Anxiety disorder is a common mental disorder in clinical practice that imposes a heavy burden on families and society. Commonly used anti-anxiety drugs have slow onsets, significant side effects, and slow drug development processes. The core bottleneck lies in the lack of animal models that can accurately simulate the characteristics of human anxiety disorders. Acute stress is a key factor that triggers anxiety disorders and can restore the initial stage of anxiety disorder onset. Acute stress animal models provide a key carrier for exploring the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders and screening anti-anxiety drugs. This article systematically elaborates on the concept and clinical significance of acute stress, the preparation of animal models of anxiety caused by acute stress, techniques for testing model effectiveness, potential biological mechanisms, and the application directions and future prospects in this field. This review aims to provide theoretical references and an experimental basis for research and clinical translation for understanding and treating anxiety disorders.