As one of the standard electrophysiological signals in the human body, the photoplethysmography contains detailed information about the blood microcirculation and has been commonly used in various medical scenarios, where the accurate detection of the pulse waveform and quantification of its morphological characteristics are essential steps. In this paper, a modular pulse wave preprocessing and analysis system is developed based on the principles of design patterns. The system designs each part of the preprocessing and analysis process as independent functional modules to be compatible and reusable. In addition, the detection process of the pulse waveform is improved, and a new waveform detection algorithm composed of screening-checking-deciding is proposed. It is verified that the algorithm has a practical design for each module, high accuracy of waveform recognition and high anti-interference capability. The modular pulse wave preprocessing and analysis software system developed in this paper can meet the individual preprocessing requirements for various pulse wave application studies under different platforms. The proposed novel algorithm with high accuracy also provides a new idea for the pulse wave analysis process.