Abstract: Underwater target tracking is the key technology of ocean surveillance and anti-submarine warfare.The most previous tracking algorithms are based on Kalman filter,Extended Kalman filter and so on.These algorithms are complex to use,and their performances are not satisfied.In recent years,the unscented Kalman filter,Particle filter,Shifted Rayleigh filter and multistatic sonar tracking algorithm have been proposed.It is necessary to research the performances of these algorithms in underwater target tracking scenario.This paper summarizes the research work in this area,and contrasts these algorithms’ performances.The development of bearing-only tracking,nonlinear filter algorithm and multistatic sonar tracking are discussed in detail.Multitarget data association and manoeuvre target tracking algorithm are also involved.The study shows that non-Klaman filter can track underwater targets with higher accuracy,and multistatic sonar tracking method is becoming hotspot in this area.This paper can be a reference for the same research work in the future.