Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a metabolic syndrome caused by a variety of pathogenic factors and characterized by excessive deposition of fat in liver cells. At present, the pathogenesis of NAFLD is not fully understood, and there is a lack of specific drugs for NAFLD in clinical practice. Therefore, the establishment of an ideal animal model is extremely important for the clarification of the pathogenesis of NAFLD, the development of specific drugs and treatment. In the past five years, in addition to NAFLD animal models, with the continuous renewal and development of traditional Chinese medicine, there have been more and more disease-syndrome combined models related to NAFLD. This article summarizes the NAFLD animal models commonly used in the past five years, their preparation and evaluation methods, in order to provide reference for the future study of NAFLD animal model preparation and the combination of disease and syndrome.