The concept of city information modeling (CIM) has become increasingly popular in recent years. A literature review of previous CIM studies is presented in this paper. First, a bibliometric analysis of the current global CIM research is described, revealing that CIM has become a significant research hotspot. Next, three main research areas of the current CIM technique, namely data collection, integration, and visualization, are summarized to describe the characteristics of CIM research. Furthermore, some widely used CIM platforms are compared, and typical application cases of the CIM technique at different stages of the city life cycle are summarized. Finally, the current issues in CIM research are discussed, and future development directions are proposed. The findings of this study are expected to help researchers understand the current state of CIM and identify future development directions, thereby promoting CIM research development.