Abstract: With the vigorous development of nuclear technology and nuclear energy applications, the issue of nuclear safety has become increasingly prominent. When nuclear and radiation emergencies occur, their characteristics of sudden onset, uncertainty, and complex radiation source items bring many difficulties to emergency response work. The internal contamination of radionuclides caused by various reasons harms the health of the population. Therefore, the accuracy of internal exposure dose estimation plays a very important role in assessing the impact pf internal exposure on the human body and guiding nuclear emergency medical treatment. The authors review the development history of internal exposure dose estimation, including the introduction of the concept of emergency dosimetry, the key technologies involved in internal exposure emergency dose estimation, and the current models and software used in internal exposure dose estimation. This review aims to explore the problems existing in the development of internal exposure dose estimation and propose future research directions.