Abstract: The reaction control system (RCS) is widely used in hypersonic vehicles and is one of the most important maneuvering apparatuses. When the RCS is activated, a complicated jet interaction flow field caused by the mixture of the jet and the freestream would lead to difficulties in predicting the effectiveness of the RCS. In this paper, the layouts of the RCS are put into 4 categories based on the layout of the RCS in different hypersonic flight vehicles and the local shape characteristics, which are the jet on surfaces with small curvature, the jet on surfaces with large curvature, the jet on the nose and the jet near the wings. Four typical models are used to simulate the flow characteristics of each type of layout, and the state-of-the-art of each typical model is summarized in this paper. In the end, some suggestions for the future research are proposed.