Depression, a common mental disorder with high recurrence rate and high suicide rate, poses a serious threat to human physical and mental health. Animal models of depression can simulate the phenotypes of human depression, which is of great significance for studying the pathogenesis of the disease and developing new antidepressant drugs. This study systematically organizes the theoretical basis, core mechanisms, establishment methods, advantages and disadvantages of six major types of animal models of depression. It also provides prospects for the construction strategies, verification systems, ethics and gender differences of the models, aiming to provide feasible modeling references, scheme optimization and innovative ideas for relevant researchers, and help achieve new breakthroughs in depression research.