Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterized by two factors: reduced bone mass and microstructure disruption of bone tissue. These symptoms increase bone fragility and can contribute to eventual fracture. In recent years, quantitative ultrasound (QUS) technologies have played a growing role in the diagnosis of osteoporosis. Most of the commercial bone sonometers measure speed of sound and/or broadband ultrasound attenuation at peripheral skeletal sites. However, QUS parameters are purely empirical measures that have not yet been firmly linked to physical parameters, such as bone strength or porosity, and the underlying physics for their variations in cancellous bone is not well understood yet. This paper reviews the QUS technologies for the diagnosis of osteoporosis and also addresses several theoretical models, such as the Biot model, the scattering model, the stratified model, and the modified Biot-Attenborough model, for ultrasonic wave propagation in bone.