Selective laser melting (SLM) is a new manufacturing technology which can build parts by using high energy laser beam to melt the deposited metal powder on platforms layer by layer. Since the melting and cooling speed of the melting pool is fast, it is difficult to analyze formation mechanism of stress, defects and microstructure. Numerical simulation can help show details of the SLM processes. So, it is of great significance for understanding the phenomena during the building and creating a guidance for the real works. There are many methods of SLM simulation and this article will focus on a systematic review of the basic characteristics of SLM, introduce some popular methods and research status and discuss development trends of the numerical simulation on SLM.