Abstract Vibration is one of the most popular phenomena that exists in our daily life. Detection of mechanical vibration usually uses laser technology. Here, we demonstrated the first application of a piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) as a self-powered sensor for detecting the vibration status of a cantilever. By attaching a NG at the surface of a cantilever near the fixed end, the resonance frequency and amplitude damping have been quantified using the output voltage of the NG without a power source. This study proves another exciting application of NG in the self-powered vibration detection systems.