Cognitive radio has become an effective theory to solve the inefficiency of the spectrum usage. One of the main requirements of cognitive radio systems is the ability to reliably detect the spectrum hole. Previous works on the problem of detection for cognitive radio have suggested the necessity of user cooperation to enable the detection at the low signal-to-noise ratios experienced in practical situations. This paper introduces energy sensing and the cooperative sensing techniques: AND model, OR model, counting model, double threshold model, likelihood ratio model, linear cooperation model and DWCS model. It is proved that significant cooperative gain can be achieved by the proposed models in reducing interference and improving spectrum usage.