Engineering rock mass physical modelling is an important method to study rock mass engineering problems. The selection of the model materials is essential to the quality of the experiment. Accurately determine the physical and mechanical properties of rock masses in civil engineering requires a large number of experiments to determine the types and proportions of materials. This is troublesome and inconvenience to the modelling process. Therefore, the application of experimental materials for different types of rock mass engineering problems is comprehensively evaluated. River sand and quartz sand are the most commonly used aggregate of traditional materials when modelling soft rock. On the basis of river sand and quartz sand, more barite powder is added to adjust the gradation and strength of hard rock. The cementing agent is usually cement, gypsum or a composite material mixed with both. Non- traditional materials are chosen to address the engineering problems. They include iron powder, molten quartz sand and ceramics acting as aggregate, and polymer, alcohol and rosin acting as cementing agent. In general, the larger the particle size of the aggregate, the greater the strength will be. However, aggregates with significantly large particle size are not favored in similar simulation. The strength of the material decreases with the increase in the sand—binder ratio. When studying rock mass with significant joints and fissures, auxiliary materials such as pulverized coal, crushed mica, perlite and foaming agent should be added to control the joints, micro- fissures, structural planes and holes of samples. The conclusions from this review are expected to provide reference for the physical modelling of rock mass engineering problems.