Hard-brittle materials such as monocrystalline silicon have high hardness, low fracture toughness and other characteristics, which belong to difficult-to-machine materials. Their machined surfaces are prone to produce micro-cracks, sub-surface damage layers and other defects . The factors affecting abrasive processing of hard-brittle materials are complex. Generally, simulation technology is used to study the removal mechanism of hard-brittle materials in abrasive processing.This paper summarizes the mesh methods, meshfree methods and the combination of mesh and meshfree methods widely used in the research of abrasive machining of hard-brittle materials. The characteristics and limitations of each simulation method are compared and analyzed, and the future research directions are put forward.