Water is a vital necessity for the survival of living beings as it serves as a key factor in maintaining human health, environmental sustainability, and food security. Several natural and anthropogenic factors are significantly harming the quality of water as a result the availability of safe drinking water has become a major global issue. Exposure to different types of contaminants found in water sources, including organic, inorganic, biological, and radioactive contaminants can lead to several health issues and can pose a threat to human life. Therefore, water resources must be monitored to assess the quality of the water. There are several methods for water quality analysis, among which UV-visible spectrophotometer offers simple, versatile, and non-destructive analysis. This review discusses the water quality parameters, the variety of contaminants found in the water sources, and their impact on human health along with UV-visible spectroscopy as an analytical technique to detect water contaminants.