General anesthesia is an effective method to reduce the pain and discomfort of experimental animals during experimental operations and a powerful means to implement the welfare of experimental animals by inhibiting the central nervous system so that the animals are in the anesthesia state of loss of consciousness and systemic pain sensation,and muscle relaxation.The good implementation of general anesthesia involves the species of experimental animals,anesthesia methods,and the selection and use of drugs.In this paper,by reviewing the literature on the application of general anesthesia to experimental animals in recent years,we compare the effects of different anesthesia delivery methods on experimental animals and the effects of anesthesia drugs on experimental animals of different species.The analysis reveals that combined anesthesia is suitable for experimental surgical operations that last for a long time,have intense pain,and are complicated,whereas simple anesthesia is suitable for experimental operations that are short,less invasive,and simple to perform.This paper provides a reference for the design of general anesthesia protocols for scientific research and medical experiments involving the use of laboratory animals.