In recent years, major breakthroughs in RNA-modification-mediated regulation of gene expression have been made, leading to the emerging field of epitranscriptomics.Our understanding of the distribution, regulation and function of these dynamic RNA modifications is based on sequencing technologies. In this Review, we focus on the major mRNA modifications in the transcriptome of eukaryotic cells: N6-methyladenosine, N6, 2'-O-dimethyladenosine, 5-methylcytidine, 5-hydroxylmethylcytidine, inosine, pseudouridine and N1-methyladenosine. We discuss the sequencing technologies used to profile these epitranscriptomic marks, including scale, resolution, quantitative feature, pre-enrichment capability and the corresponding bioinformatics tools. We also discuss the challenges of epitranscriptome profiling and highlight the prospect of future detection tools. We aim to guide the choice of different detection methods and inspire new ideas in RNA biology.