To summarize the animal and cell models of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and describe its pathological mechanism to provide a theoretical foundation for experimental pharmacological research. Research on ADHD was gathered from CNKI, Wanfang, PubMed, and other databases. The principles, characteristics, and research progress of ADHD animal models were comprehensively outlined, and their merits and shortcomings were highlighted. The research status of ADHD cell models was evaluated and the pathological mechanism of ADHD was explained. There are two types of animal models for ADHD: genetic models (hybrid mouse and transgenic animal models) and non-genetic models (chemically and environmentally induced models). The focus on face validity, construct validity, and prediction validity differs among models in addition to their application span. Neuronal and non-neuronal cell lines are the most often used cell lines for ADHD research, but they are understudied. The etiology of ADHD mostly involves neurotransmitter dysregulation, neuroinflammation, and decreased neuronal energy. SHR is the optimum animal model to simulate ADHD symptoms and has a strong predictive validity for neurostimulator medications. SH-SY5Y cells display the dopaminergic phenotype of ADHD and are a useful tool to determine cell viability and drug safety. Neurotransmitter dysregulation, particularly dopamine insufficiency, appears to be the primary pathophysiology of ADHD in accordance with in vitro and in vivo investigations.