Recently, many researchers have paid their more attention to image fusion technique based on pulse coupled neural network (PCNN). In order to make the researchers to rapidly understand the research development of image fusion based on PCNN, it is systematically reviewed in the paper. On the basis of statistical analysis on published papers, firstly, PCNN and some modified models are introduced. Then we review the PCNN's applications in the field of image fusion. Subsequently, some existing problems are summarized, while we give some suggestions for the future research.