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Gasoline engines can be affected, under certain operating conditions, by knocking combustions, which can result in serious engine damage. Specific power and efficiency are influenced by factors such as compression ratio and spark advance regulation, that modify the combustion development over the crank angle: the trade-off between performance and the risk of irreversible damages is still a key factor in the design of both high-performance (racing) and low-consumption engines. New generation detection systems, especially based on ionization current technology, allow aggressive advance mapping and control, and future equipment, such as low-cost in-cylinder pressure transducers, will allow following that trend. Also HCCI (Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition) engines need a sophisticated combustion monitoring methodology, since increasing BMEP levels in HCCI mode force the combustion to approach the knocking operation.