Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is a state of persistent immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen without clinical symptoms or imaging findings of active tuberculosis. The relapse of LTBI is one of the main sources of active tuberculosis. Generating an LTBI animal model is the foundation for studying mechanisms of latency and recurrence of tuberculosis infection, developing diagnostic reagents, and assessing the efficacy and safety about new anti-tuberculosis drugs and vaccines. Developing an LTBI animal model with consistent phenotype, low cost, easy to master and popularize, suitable length of time of latent period, small variation in relapse threshold and relapse level would be the future direction for LTBI related studies. This review summarizes the researches on animal models of LTBI, with the hope of providing reference for those who are engaged in tuberculosis control.