Aiming at the complex characteristics of rheological properties and dynamic process of debris flow, on the basis of systematically collecting relevant literatures on numerical simulation of debris flow in China, the history and current situation of numerical simulation of debris flow in China are summarized according to three stages:preliminary exploration, gradual improvement and maturity. According to the material composition and dynamic characteristics, the dynamic model of debris flow can be divided into continuous medium, discrete medium and mixed medium model. By analyzing the characteristics and application scenarios of different models, the applicability and shortcomings of various models and numerical calculation methods are compared and summarized. On this basis, in view of some difficulties in the debris flow simulation, the future development of debris flow numerical simulation is prospected, aiming to providing reference for debris flow numerical simulation research and application software development.