Aortic dissection (AD), especially the thoracic aortic dissection (TAD), is a complex and fatal disease. At present, the knowledge and treatment of AD are still under continuous development, and both theory and practice need to be developed by translational studies in animal models. As a result, various models have emerged, which are complementary and supplementary to each other. The creation of an ideal animal model firstly requires overall understanding of the advantages and limitations of each model, and then integrating the superiorities of each model, so as to achieve the purpose of the experiment. The small animal models of TAD are induced mainly by chemical induction or genetic modification, while the large -animal models of TAD are created mainly by surgical procedure or endovascular approach. Here, the authors present a brief overview on above modeling methods of the TAD animal models.