Abstract: Nitrous oxide (N₂O)is one of the major greenhouse gasses. In atmosphere, the concentration of N₂O is increasing sharply. Agricultural soil is a major source of N₂O emissions, accounted for approximately 70% of total global anthropogenic emissions. Nitrification, denitrification, nitrifier denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium are the main N₂O generation processes. Based on clarifying of the N₂O generation mechanisms, the development and research status of the process-based mechanism modelsincluding denitrification-decomposition (DNDC), water and nitrogen management model (WNMM), DAYCENT and ecosystem model (Ecosys)for N₂O emissions from agricultural soil were reviewed and summarized. Some key issues that should be paid more attention in the future studies on the N₂O emission simulation for agricultural soils, including the model mechanism improvement, parameter adjustment and enhancement of the regional simulation ability. Research on the cropland N₂O generation mechanism and related models is meaningful to predict and mitigate the N₂O emissions and maintain the ecological balance.