cognitive radio is widely expected to be the next Big Bang in wireless communications. Spectrum sensing, that is, detecting the presence of the primary users in a licensed spectrum, is a fundamental problem for cognitive radio. As a result, spectrum sensing has reborn as a very active research area in recent years despite its long history. In this paper, spectrum sensing techniques from the optimal likelihood ratio test to energy detection matched filtering detection, cycle stationary detection, eigenvalue-based sensing, joint space-time sensing, and robust sensing methods are reviewed. Cooperative spectrum sensing with multiple receivers is also discussed. Special attention is paid to sensing methods that need little prior information on the source signal and the propagation channel. Practical challenges such as noise power uncertainty are discussed and possible solutions are provided. Theoretical analysis of the test statistic distribution and threshold setting is also investigated. Spectrum sensing problem has gained new aspects with cognitive radio and opportunistic spectrum access concepts. It is one of the most challenging issues in cognitive radio systems. In this paper, a survey of spectrum sensing methodologies for cognitive radio is presented. Various aspects of the spectrum sensing problem are studied from a cognitive radio perspective and multi-dimensional spectrum sensing concept is introduced. Challenges associated with spectrum sensing.