With the growth of the world's older population and the improvement of anesthetic and surgical techniques, an increasing number of elderly patients would like to undergo non‑cardiac surgery. Perioperative cardiovascular adverse events are still the one of most commonly reasons to increase mortality and complications. Elderly patients have an obviously higher risk of cardiovascular adverse events than young and middle‑aged patients, due to degraded physiological function and increased diseases, in addition to the influence of anesthesia and operation. With respect to patient general condition, comorbidity, anesthetic method and other factors, it is a hot research topic at home and abroad to construct an accurate and feasible assessment tool or predictive model to evaluate the risk of cardiovascular adverse events in elderly patients during the perioperative period. The current paper reviews the advantages, disadvantages, clinical application and research progress of domestic and oversea assessment tools to evaluate cardiovascular risks of elderly patients with non‑cardiac surgery.