Surgical risk prediction is to predict postoperative morbidity and mortality with internationally authoritative mathematical models. For patients undergoing high-risk cardiac surgery, surgical risk prediction is helpful for decision-making on treatment strategies and minimization of postoperative complications, which has gradually arouse interest of cardiac surgeons. There are many risk prediction models for cardiac surgery in the world, including European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE), Ontario Province Risk (OPR)score, Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)score, Cleveland Clinic risk score, Quality Measurement and Management Initiative (QMMI), American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA)Guidelines for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery, and Sino System for Coronary Operative Risk Evaluation (SinoSCORE). All these models are established from the database of thousands or ten thousands patients undergoing cardiac surgery in a specific region. As different sources of data and calculation imparities exist, there are probably bias and heterogeneities when the models are applied in other regions. How to decrease deviation and improve predicting effects had become the main research target in the future. This review focuses on the progress of risk prediction models for patients undergoing cardiac surgery.