Laboratory animals provide an important experimental resource for life science research, and their uniformity plays a key role in the accuracy and reliability of the experimental result. Genetic quality testing of laboratory animals is thus essential to evaluate the genetic quality of laboratory animals. Progress in modern biotechnology has led to improvements in the method of genetic testing of experimental animals. Single nucleotide polymorphisms, as molecular markers, have been widely used in genetic testing of laboratory animals, and method for their detection in laboratory animals have been updated, in line with biotechnology advances. In this paper, we review current research progress and the application of SNP detection method for genetic quality testing of laboratory animals, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various detection method, with a view to providing a reference basis for genetic quality testing of laboratory animals.