Changes in soil organic matter has important impacts on soil fertility and CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere. It is established that models based on the computer simulation of the turnover of soil organic matter provide a useful approach to predict long term changes in the content of organic matter in soil. This paper briefly introduces overall development in modeling the turnover of soil organic matter and the special features of the widely used models (e.g. RothC and CENTRURY) in constructing techniques and uses. We mainly discussed the main principles applied to develop computer model for simulating the turnover of soil organic matter, including the model structure and main processes, the main affecting factors consid ered, and methods to evaluate the simulating and predicting results. The likely problems and further studies required were also outlined.