Isothermal amplification technology could be used for in vitro nucleic acid amplification at a constant temperature，which has been increasing studied in recent years. In the paper，loop mediated isothermal amplification technique（LAMP），recombinase isothermal amplification technique，nucleic acid sequence dependent amplification technique（NASBA），cross primer isothermal amplification technique（CPA）and helicase dependent amplification technique（HDA）were reviewed from the aspects of technical principles，advantages and disadvantages as well as the application in animal pathogen detection. LAMP could be operated without any special equipment，but more complex primers were needed，it would be very difficult to develop multiple LAMP. Recombinase isothermal amplification technique could not be restricted by surrounding conditions with short amplification time，but aerosol pollution could be produced，which was generally used for experimental researches. NASBA was with high amplification efficiency，producing little pollution，but its cost was high with relative complex operation，so its application in disease detection and researches was reducing. CPA was relatively simple，with high sensitivity and specificity，but false positive or false negative results might be obtained due to some subjective factors. The primer design of HDA was relatively simple，but its reaction system was more complex，which was not suitable to amplify the genes with long sequence. In conclusion，isothermal amplification techniques should be selected according to actual needs and specific conditions. In spite of the above advantages，the techniques should be continuously improved to be used together with microfluidic chips，nano gold，CRISPR and other techniques in the future，which was expected to be a more rapid，accurate and simple operation，and thus provided better convenience for animal disease detection.