The migration and transformation law of oil pollution in the sudden pollution accidents has always been a key problem in the field of environmental hydraulics. According to the physical and chemical characteristics of this pollutants, the research progress in dynamic mechanism and mathematical simulation at home and abroad is summarized from six aspects, namely, the spreading and migration process of oil slick in water surface, the weathering process of oil slick in water surface, the diffusion process of oil slick into the deep water, the migration and transformation process of oil pollutants in water, physical test for migration and transformation of oil pollutants, the common oil spill models according to the kinetic characteristics of oil pollutants at different stages in water, and the future research trend is analyzed.