Continued advances in metabolic engineering are increasing the number of small molecules being targeted for microbial production. Pathway yields and productivities, however, are often suboptimal, and strain improvement remains a persistent challenge given that the majority of small molecules are difficult to screen for and their biosynthesis does not improve host fitness. In this work, we have developed a generalized approach to screen or select for improved small-molecule biosynthesis using transcription factor-based biosensors. Using a tetracycline resistance gene 3' of a small-molecule inducible promoter, host antibiotic resistance, and hence growth rate, was coupled to either small-molecule concentration in the growth medium or a small-molecule production phenotype. Biosensors were constructed for two important chemical classes, dicarboxylic acids and alcohols, using transcription factor-promoter pairs derived from Pseudomonas putida, Thauera butanivorans, or E. coli. Transcription factors were selected for specific activation by either succinate, adipate, or 1-butanol, and we demonstrate product-dependent growth in E. coli using all three compounds. The 1-butanol biosensor was applied in a proof-of-principle liquid culture screen to optimize 1-butanol biosynthesis in engineered E. coli, identifying a pathway variant yielding a 35% increase in 1-butanol specific productivity through optimization of enzyme expression levels. Lastly, to demonstrate the capacity to select for enzymatic activity, the 1-butanol biosensor was applied as synthetic selection, coupling in vivo 1-butanol biosynthesis to E. coli fitness, and an 120-fold enrichment for a 1-butanol production phenotype was observed following a single round of positive selection.