The surname Kruse may refer to:
- Elert Kruse The Livonian adventurer
- Anine Kruse (born 1977), Norwegian music conductor
- August von Kruse (1779–1848), German general during the Napoleonic Wars
- Frederik Vinding Kruse (1880–1963), Danish jurist
- Käthe Kruse (1883–1968), German dollmaker
- Kevin M. Kruse, American historian
- Max Kruse, several people
- Robbie Kruse (born 1988), Australian footballer
- Rüdiger Kruse (born 1961), German politician
- Sigrid Kruse (1867–1950), Swedish educator, children's writer and suffragist
- Tom Kruse (inventor), inventor of the Hoveround, a type of electric wheelchair
- Tom Kruse (mailman) (1914–2011), Australian mailman, featured in documentary The Back of Beyond
- George Kruse (1880–1965), Australian footballer
- William F. Kruse (1894–1952), American socialist journalist and functionary