The establishment of scientific and effective animal models is a key step to complete disease research. Diet induction is a common method to establish animal models of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The common animal models of diet-induced NAFLD mainly include high-fat and high-sugar diet-induced model, high-fat and high-cholesterol diet-induced model, and choline-deficient diet-induced model. Due to the different nutrients ingested by different modeling methods, the pathological characteristics such as fatty deformation, inflammation and fibrosis of the liver are different. In addition, different animal models vary in disease progression, disease severity, and applicable studies. This article analyzes and compares the common animal models of NAFLD induced by different diets in modeling methods, modeling time, pathological characteristics, applicable research, and related advantages and disadvantages, so as to provide reference for NAFLD researchers to select animal models.