Shallow lake is one of the most important freshwater ecosystems for human being.With the increasing of lake eutrophication,people pay more attention to shallow lakes,and have tried different ecological models to predict lake water quality.PCLake model is specifically used for accurate prediction of pollution trend in shallow lakes.The principle of PCLake model and its application are briefly introduced.The application research of PCLake model is elaborated from different perspectives,including regime shift,climate change and lake management.In addition,different lake ecosystem models are compared,such as CAEDYM model,LakeWeb model,MIKE 21 model,CE-QUAL-W2 model,and WASP model.Based on the case studies and analysis of different models,the applicability and limitations of the PCLake model are explored and its future development is predicted,so as to provide a comprehensive and systematic reference for the research of PCLake model in shallow lakes.