Gordon Brown said he had ordered a review of existing security measures, which would report within days.
Full-body scanners would be among the new technologies considered, he said.
He also said the alleged plane bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who had studied in London, had linked up with al-Qaeda in Yemen after leaving the UK.
A former close friend of Mr Abdulmutallab has also told the BBC he believes he was radicalised after leaving the country in 2008.
Qasim Rafiq knew the suspect for three years at University College London, and preceded him as president of its Islamic Society.
He says Mr Abdulmutallab had shown no signs of violent extremism while living in the UK.
'New techniques'
Nigerian-born Mr Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to detonate a bomb on a flight as it came in to land in Detroit on Christmas Day.
The 23-year-old allegedly attempted to ignite explosives stored in his underpants. He had flown from Lagos to Amsterdam before changing planes for a flight to Detroit.
In a post on the Downing Street website on Friday, Mr Brown said it had been "another wake-up call for the ongoing battles we must wage, not just for security against terror but for the hearts and minds of a generation".
If I could speak to him now I would ask him 'What is it that drove you down this road because you were not like this when I knew you?'
Qasim Rafiq
University friend of Mr Abdulmutallab
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The prime minister said al-Qaeda and its associates had developed ways to conceal explosives which were more difficult to detect.
"We need to continually explore the most sophisticated devices capable of identifying explosives, guns, knives and other such items anywhere on the body," he said.
"We will examine a range of new techniques to enhance airport security systems beyond the traditional measures, such as pat-down searches and sniffer dogs.
"These could include advancing our use of explosive trace technology, full-body scanners and advanced X-ray technology."
US President Barack Obama has also ordered a review of air security, and Mr Brown said the UK would work alongside the US and other partners to "move things forward quickly".
"On Monday I ordered immediate reviews into existing measures - including for transit passengers - and asked for ways we can urgently tighten procedures," Mr Brown said.
"I will be receiving the preliminary findings in the next few days."
The attempted bomb attack has reopened the debate surrounding body scanners, which produce "naked" images of passengers and are being trialled at Manchester Airport.
'Fortress Britain'
Mr Brown said the UK had one of the "toughest borders in the world" and although Mr Abdulmutallab was on a watch-list and had not been allowed into Britain, it did not "lead us to any complacency".
"It is because we cannot win through a fortress Britain strategy that we have to take on extremists wherever they are based: in Afghanistan, Pakistan and all around the world, including here in Britain," he added.
Technology exists to scan under clothes but there are privacy issues
He warned Britain needed to "remain vigilant" over the radicalisation of young, vulnerable people abroad and in the UK.
"It is the responsibility of all of us - families, local communities, teachers, youth workers and other young people themselves - to provide support to those vulnerable young people," he wrote.
But he insisted the "vast majority of young people and Muslims in Britain reject all forms of extremism, so the success of our strategy depends on support from all communities".
Mr Brown also wrote about the rising importance of Yemen as "both an incubator and potential safe haven for terrorism".
"Pushed out of Afghanistan and increasingly dispersed over the mountains of Pakistan, al-Qaeda's affiliates and allies - in ungoverned or under-governed areas like parts of Yemen, The Sahel and Somalia - have raised their profile," he said.
He said the UK was already one of Yemen's leading donors and it was increasing support to its government through intelligence assistance, training of counter-terrorism units and development programmes.
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