Commercial liquid culture systems and molecular line-probe assays have been endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as gold standards for rapid detection of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB); however, because of technical complexity, cost and the requirement for sophisticated laboratory infrastructure, use of these techniques has been limited in many resource-constrained settings. Several noncommercial culture and drug-susceptibility testing (DST) methods have been developed specifically for settings with limited access to sophisticated laboratory infrastructure and technical expertise. Several rapid, inexpensive methods have shown initial promise. The most advanced are microscopic observation of drug susceptibility (MODS), colorimetric redox indicator (CRI) methods, thin-layer agar methods, the nitrate reductase assay (NRA) and mycobacteriophage-based assays.