In the present study, we developed two different kinds of surface-modified (mercaptopropionic acid or amphiphilic polymer) CdSe/ZnS core shell quantum dots (QDs) with protein (Annexin V) conjugation as fluorescent probes to detect apoptotic cells. Annexin V, a lipid-binding protein having a strong affinity with phosphatidylserine (PS), is normally found on the inner surface of the plasma membrane facing the cytoplasm of living cells, but in turn flips and faces the extra-cellular fluid during apoptosis. We illustrated curcumin, a common herbal spice, having dose-dependent apoptotic characteristic of human osteoblast cell line (hFOB1.19) at low concentration and necrosis at high concentration. The confocal fluorescence images of quantum dots conjugated with Annexin V (QD-AV) and Propidium iodide could clearly distinguish and detect the apoptosis. The early execution stage of apoptosis shown as cell shrinkage imaging was detected more clearly by QD-AV than by QD-FITC methods. The necrosis processes and the sensitivity of QD-AV were found to be superior to the commercial Annexin V-FITC apoptosis detection kit. These two QD-AV probes are easily made in the lab and will be very useful in the future.