Nowadays, composite materials are increasingly being used in aerospace and automobile industries because of its better weight over cost ratio than the conventional metals, easier manufacturing process to fabricate complex geometry, and less maintenance needed during service. But not many traditional non-destructive testing techniques are workable and effective for special composite defects, such as kissing-bond existing in composite laminates which is difficult to be detected through traditional non-destructive testing methods like ultrasonic scanning. This paper proposed and experimentally investigated transient infrared sensing method to detect pseudo-kissing bonds in glass fibre and carbon-fiber composite specimens. The effects of various parameters in system configurations, as in infrared signal path arrangement by reflection or transmission, the rate of heating, and the presence of adhesives in simulating kissing bonds were investigated and the results are presented in the paper. This study demonstrated the potential of the transient infrared sensing for kissing bond detection of composite.