Renal interstitial fibrosis is a common pathway in the progression of many renal diseases. Whether it is chronic kidney disease or acute kidney injury that cannot be fully recovered, the progression process mostly enters end-stage renal failure after renal interstitial fibrosis. The animal model of renal interstitial fibrosis is an important research tool for exploring the pathogenesis of renal interstitial fibrosis and new diagnostic and treatment methods. Different animal models have their own characteristics. Researchers can establish different models based on their own experience and experimental purposes, and carry out scientific research on this basis to provide more new methods for the prevention and treatment of kidney diseases. The authors focused on several common animal models of renal interstitial fibrosis to provide the reference for related researchers, including surgical models induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction, ischemia-reperfusion injury, 5/6 nephrectomy, and microembolization; chemical models induced by cyclosporine A, adriamycin, aristolochic acid, mercuric chloride（HgCl₂）, gentamicin, cisplatin, and adenine; transgenic hybridization and kidney injury molecule 1 (KIM-1) induced transgenic modification model; composite model induced by bilateral ischemia-reperfusion injury (BIRI) combined with gentamicin, unilateral nephrectomy combined with angiotensin II (Ang II), and unilateral ischemia-reperfusion injury (UIRI) combined with pLVX-shTNC plasmid.