With the accelerated pace of urbanization, the urban hydrological cycle has undergone significant changes, leading to complication of rainfall runoff characteristics, frequent occurrences of waterlogging events, and increasingly severe water pollution issues. As an effective tool to address these challenges, storm water management model (SWMM), with its powerful simulation functions and flexibility, has gained widespread application in urban rainfall runoff simulation, urban drainage system planning and design, urban non-point source pollution simulation, and LID (low impact development) facility effect analysis. This paper reviews the current application status of the SWMM model, analyzes the main existing problems in SWMM research, and proposes prospects for the functional improvement and practical application of the model.