Waterfall areas are now in the gold rush era in research in different fields, including ecology and hydrology. There is a critical lack of studies on using remote sensing to detect and map water surges in waterfall areas, particularly in tropical regions, including Malaysia. Thus, this study sheds light on exploring the key research trends on remote sensing applications to detect and map water surges in waterfall areas globally in the past five years, providing insights to guide future research efforts in this critical but underrepresented field. Bibliometric analysis included defining search criteria and keywords, retrieving relevant bibliographic records from the Web of Science database, and conducting a comprehensive analysis of the data among 667 peer-reviewed articles was revealed that there is an immense need to investigate water surge risk in waterfall areas simultaneously as a broader environmental application. Critical visualisation was provided by generated network maps using VOSviewer. The study reveals a global and regional lack of research on using remote sensing to map water surges in waterfall areas. This work emphasises the critical need for targeted research in this niche field, offering actionable insights for advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and disaster preparedness in regions prone to water surges.