Abstract: The total scattering field of a radar target can be approximated as the superposition of the scattering contributions from scattering centers (SC). Each of types of SCs corresponds to a specific scattering mechanism, and the scattering field of a specific scattering mechanism can be expressed as a parameterized model with input as radar parameters (frequency, polarization, aspect angle) and target parameters (geometry, material). SC model has been paid much attention in real time simulation of radar echo, semi-physical simulation and radar target recognition. This paper summarizes the development of the SC models, the extracting methods of parameters in SC models, the difficult problems in SC modeling and the future hot-topics. It is expected that this paper can provide a reference for researchers engaged in this field.