The tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG), as a versatile and robust tool for many sensing applications with a particular focus on vapor deposition processes, is reviewed. Recent work employing the TFBG as an optical probe for monitoring the metal-organic (MO)CVD of noble-metal, single-source precursors is discussed extensively. This work also establishes the broad scope that utilizes TFBGs and other optical fiber configurations to interrogate thin film growth and the associated optical properties. While it cannot possibly cover the full scope of applications with respect to the TFBG device, this review highlights the recent advances of TFBG-based sensing for CVD, and progress towards the applicability of TFBGs as evanescent field-based sensors.