Abstract: By dividing the developmental course of catchment hydrological models into four stages: infancy, juvenility, adolescence, and maturity, the characteristics, capabilities, module functions of models at each stage are systematically compared. At each stage, models can be classified as lumped, semi-distributed, full-distributed model and integrated model system. Models belong to different classification types are compared. Those discussed models are Standford, SWM-IV, Sacramento, Tank, HEC-1, SWMM and Xinanjiang in lumped models, HSPF, PRMS, HEC-HMS, TOPMODEL and SWAT in semi-distributed models, and MIKESHE, SHETRAN, IHDM,TOPKAPI, BASINS, HMS, WMS, SMS and MMS in distributed model and integrated hydrological model. Since hydrological models are becoming an important tool in regional water resources management both in international and domestic level, the analysis is believed to give helps to new users of catchment models.