Background In recent years, with the deeply study of the mechanism and understanding of the dangers, acute pain after cardiovascular surgery has become an increasingly important issue to anesthesiologists and patients. Meanwhile, with the improvement of anesthesia techniques and analgesia methods, better postoperative analgesia is required for anesthesiologists. Objective The aim of this review is to progress the management of acute pain, and achieve the effective treatment. Content This review has been focused on the mechanism and risk factors impacts on acute pain of postoperative cardiovascular surgery, and clinical analgesia methods are offered in details. Trend The management of acute pain after cardiovascular surgery has been achieved some results, more research is still worth carrying out to exploring new analgesic methods to meet the needs of patients.