Dislocation cross-slip is introduced as an essential detail mechanism in plastic deformation with implications for strain rate, recovery, hardening, and structural evolution. Different cross-slip scenarios are classified according to different possibilities of re-dissociation of the glide dislocation which has cross-slipped following recombination of the stacking fault. The most important cross-slip models found in literature are reviewed. They fall into one of three main categories: line-tension approximation, linear-elastic treatment with long-distance interaction, and atomistic simulation. Special emphasis is laid on the problem of linear-elastic cutoff radii and critical approach distances and the author's methods of calculating the energy of cross-slip configurations. A critical comparison of different models is made including constriction energies and stress dependence, and the advantages and inherent weaknesses of the different approaches are discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.