Cardiovascular disease stemmed from atherosclerosis is well recognized to be the predominant cause of global death. In order to comprehensively clarify the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, exploit effective drugs as well as develop therapeutic solutions, various atherosclerotic models were constructed in vitro and widely utilized by scientific community. Compared with animal models, the in vitro atherosclerotic models play prominent role not only in the targeted research of single pathological factor related to atherosclerosis in the human derived system, but also in the combined study on multi-pathological factors leading to atherosclerosis, thereby contributing tremendously to the in-depth elucidation of atherosclerotic pathological process. In the current review, a variety of pathological factors incorporated into the existing atherosclerotic models in vitro are broadly elaborated, including the pathological mechanism, in vitro simulation approaches, and the desired improvement perspectives for reproducing each pathological factor. In addition, this review also summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of current atherosclerotic models as well as their potential functionality. Finally, the promising aspects for future atherosclerotic models in vitro with potential advances are also discussed.