An optical pickup device comprising at least a light source, an optical unit for irradiating an optical recording medium with a plurality of lights from this light source, a head unit located in an opposing relation to the optical recording medium and converging a plurality of lights emitted from the light source on a recording surface of the optical recording medium as near field light, a photo-detecting unit for detecting an angle between the head unit and the recording surface of the optical recording medium based on quantities of returned lights from the optical recording medium and a tilt control unit for controlling the tilt driving unit based on an angle detected by the photo-detecting unit so that an angle of the head unit relative to the recording surface is held constant. Then, an optical pickup device, an optical recording and reproducing apparatus and a tilt detection method are able to automatically control a tilt without requiring setting up an external sensor independently of an optical pickup.