Metal-hydrides have been of great interest as one of the most promising materials for hydrogen storage applications. For widespread use, the most appropriate container and thermal management systems to minimise the time of absorption and desorption and maximise the amount of stored hydrogen must be designed. In recent years, many attempts have been made to identify the relationship between different operating and design variables and the resultant performance of metal-hydride systems. In this review, features of mathematical models of metal-hydride reactors including the assumptions, different applied equations and solution methods which have been developed in previous studies are presented. The evolution of the reactor geometries and configurations of cooling systems as well as different effective factors of metal-hydride performance are also discussed. Crown Copyright (C) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.