In order to comprehensively generalize the research status quo,achievements as well as deficiencies on the power system reactive power optimization algorithms a universal reactive power optimization model was introduced in this paper,and aSvarietySof common traditional optimization algorithms,artificial intelligence optimization algorithms used in current power system reactive power optimization were summarized,including linear programming,nonlinear programming,dynamic programming,modern heuristic search,expert system method,etc．The principle,advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm were analyzed in this paper,at the same time,several improved optimization algorithms which aimed at the flaws of each basic optimization algorithm were also introduced．Finally,the paper listed several effective hybrid optimization algorithms,and offeredSaSproposal on the research direction of reactive power optimization in the future．