Aim To investigate the modeling methods and application of atherosclerotic vulnerable plaque (VP) animal model. Methods The related literature about VP animal modeling published in CNKI, Pubmed and Wanfang databases from October 2016 to October 2021 were retrieved. The modeling animals, modeling methods, modeling cycles, model evaluation methods and corresponding detection indexes in the literatures were statistically analyzed. Results The most commonly used experimental animals were mice with apolipoprotein E gene deficient at 6～12 weeks, New Zealand white rabbits at 12～16 weeks, and familial hypercholesterolemia pigs at 34 weeks. Modeling methods were followed by high-fat and high-cholesterol diet induction, arterial ligation, or combined with aortic endothelial balloon strain, chemical triggering, immune induction, etc. The modeling cycle ranged from 8 weeks to 1 year, with 12 to 18 weeks being the most. The evaluation methods were mostly pathological staining, combined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blot, real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, flow cytometry and other methods; color Doppler ultrasound, cardiac perfusion imaging and in vivo live cell tracking technology were used for VP live detection. Conclusion High-fat and high-cholesterol diet feeding, or combined with surgical injury to establish VP model has good reproducibility. If a cost-effective in vivo detection method can be developed, the research efficiency of atherosclerotic diseases will be greatly improved.