Abstract: Hidden line elimination is a part which is not negligible in CAD and some other application systems.With the increasingly wide use of CAD technique it is still necessary to improve the algorithms of hidden line elimination.This paper surveys the existing variety of algorithms for hidden line elimination and then concludes that designing the elaborate criterion for estimating the visibility of lines or points,sorting the data in advance,and selection of efficient operations which bear a close relation to hidden line removal,are the key for making the algorithm more sophisticated.The common rules drawn from the survey may be taken as a reference for selection of the existing algorithms or design of new algorithms.