The honest answer to what asbestos looks like is that it looks like whatever it was mixed into. It was a fibre added to cement, board, paper, textile, plastic, adhesive and paint, so it takes the colour and shape of the product rather than having a look of its own. Pictures help you know which materials to be suspicious of and they never tell you whether the one in front of you contains it, which is why identification ends in a laboratory rather than in a photograph.
Why photographs cannot answer it
Two ceilings with the same texture, two garages with the same grey sheet, two floors with the same nine inch tile: one contains asbestos and the other does not, and nothing visible separates them. The fibres are microscopic and the products were made in identical form before and after the ban. A picture is useful for narrowing what to sample and dangerous when it is used to rule something out.
What to be suspicious of
Age first. If a building was built or refurbished before 2000 it may contain asbestos, and the older it is the more likely. Then material: corrugated grey sheeting, soft grey board linings, textured ceiling coatings, nine inch floor tiles on black adhesive, pipe and boiler insulation, loose grey fill in a loft, cement rainwater goods, and panels behind heaters. Those are the places to look.
How identification actually works
A sample of the material goes to a laboratory accredited for the analysis, which examines it under polarised light microscopy and issues a result naming the asbestos type or recording none detected. That result belongs to that sample. It is a small cost, it is checkable, and it is the only thing that turns a suspicion into a fact you can act on or hand to a contractor.
What to do while you are unsure
Treat it as asbestos and leave it alone. Do not drill it, sand it, break it, sweep up debris from it or put it in a bin. If a contractor has already disturbed it, stop the work and keep people out of the area. Nothing about the appearance of the material changes what you do next: the answer is a sample, then a decision recorded in writing.
Questions people ask about what does asbestos look like
Is there a home test for asbestos?
Sampling is the test, and taking a sample disturbs the material, which is the hazardous act. This site does not tell anyone how to do it; most accredited laboratories will send somebody to take it.
Can a surveyor tell by looking?
An experienced surveyor can tell you what is worth sampling and how confident they are, and a competent report says presumed rather than identified where nothing was analysed. Presumed means treated as asbestos until proven otherwise.
Does asbestos smell?
No. It has no smell and no taste, the fibres that matter are too small to see, and there is no sensory warning of any kind. That is precisely why it is managed on paper rather than by judgement.