Current techniques for the determination of soil moisture and density are undesirable because they are time consuming and destructive; However, emerging nondestructive technologies may be able to improve upon existing techniques. The goal of this study was to create a synthesis of techniques that could be used for soil moisture and density determination and to evaluate promising techniques. Techniques documented in this study are: gravimetric, nuclear, dielectric, magnetic, seismic, thermal, and spectroscopic. Of these techniques nuclear, dielectric, seismic, and thermal methods were evaluated in the field or laboratory. The primary disadvantage of all the methods is the small sample volume measured. Additionally, all the methods possessed some sensitivity to non-moisture factors that affected the accuracy of the results. As the measurement volume increases, local variances are averaged out resulting in increased precision. The state of the art (and most promising technique) in soil moisture sensing technologies today are the dielectric methods, the most popular techniques of which are time domain reflectometry (TDR) and capacitance sensors. The most popular nondestructive device is the nuclear moisture/density gauge; however, due to recurrent regulatory costs and the inherit health hazard of this technique an alternative device is highly desirable. Seismic/ultrasound technology is an established technique in nondestructive evaluation but is too sensitive to soil stiffness, density, and coupling to be a reliable sensor of soil moisture content. Alternatively, it may be a useful technique for in situ monitoring of settlement and stiffening due to diagenetic affects over time.