Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) has high morbidity and mortality, and the prognosis for patients is poor. Establishing patient-derived xenograft models with CRPC characteristics using clinical surgical specimens is critical for CRPC research. In this article, we review the main phenotypic characteristics of a variety of CRPC patient- derived xenograft models, including hormone-independent phenotypes, androgen receptor-related phenotypes and neuroendocrine phenotypes, as well as pathophysiological characteristics, and we discuss potential experimental tools for studying the mechanisms of CRPC and for targeted drug screening for the disease.