Energy is a vital input for social and economic development of any nation. With increasing agricultural and industrial activities in the country, the demand for energy is also increasing. Formulation of an energy model will help in the proper allocation of widely available renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, bioenergy and small hydropower in meeting the future energy demand in India. During the last decade several new concepts of energy planning and management such as decentralized planning, energy conservation through improved technologies, waste recycling, integrated energy planning, introduction of renewable energy sources and energy forecasting have emerged. In this paper an attempt has been made to understand and review the various emerging issues related to the energy modeling. The different types of models such as energy planning models, energy supply–demand models, forecasting models, renewable energy models, emission reduction models, optimization models have been reviewed and presented. Also, models based on neural network and fuzzy theory have been reviewed and discussed. The review paper on energy modeling will help the energy planners, researchers and policy makers widely.