With the development of the manufacture technology of the CMOS image sensors (CISs), the application fields of the CISs have been expanded. The problems of radiation damage suffered by the CISs in space radiation or nuclear radiation environments have been paid much attention. Compared with the radiation experimental researches of the CISs, the simulation researches will be helpful to reveal the mechanism of radiation damage in the CISs, and then develop the radiation hardening design, so as to improve the ability of the radiation hardening of the CISs. The simulation research progress of radiation damage effects in the CISs at home and abroad is briefly introduced. Combined the radiation effect simulation of the electronic components with a lot of practical experience in radiation experiments developed by the project team, the simulation methods of radiation damage effect in the CISs are discussed in the aspects of device physical modeling, clock driving circuit modeling, radiation damage effect modeling and simulation results verification. The key problems in the simulation researches of radiation damage effects in the CISs which should be solved urgently are summarized.