The article reviews the mechanisms underlying attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders. It examines the components of attentional bias (facilitated attention, difficulty in disengagement, and attentional avoidance), the mediating mechanisms (attentional control, emotion regulation goals, and neural mechanisms), and the stages of information processing during which these biases occur. The review integrates empirical evidence from various experimental tasks and anxiety disorders, highlighting the robustness of attentional biases towards threat. The article discusses several theoretical models that have been proposed to explain these biases, including Beck and Clark’s cognitive model, Williams et al.’s model, Öhman’s feature detection model, Wells and Matthews’s model, Mogg and Bradley’s cognitive-motivational model, Mathews and Mackintosh’s model, Eysenck’s attentional control theory, and Bar-Haim’s multidimensional model. The review concludes by discussing the interrelations between the different aspects of attentional bias and the need for further research to clarify the mechanisms and moderators of attentional biases in anxiety disorders.The article reviews the mechanisms underlying attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders. It examines the components of attentional bias (facilitated attention, difficulty in disengagement, and attentional avoidance), the mediating mechanisms (attentional control, emotion regulation goals, and neural mechanisms), and the stages of information processing during which these biases occur. The review integrates empirical evidence from various experimental tasks and anxiety disorders, highlighting the robustness of attentional biases towards threat. The article discusses several theoretical models that have been proposed to explain these biases, including Beck and Clark’s cognitive model, Williams et al.’s model, Öhman’s feature detection model, Wells and Matthews’s model, Mogg and Bradley’s cognitive-motivational model, Mathews and Mackintosh’s model, Eysenck’s attentional control theory, and Bar-Haim’s multidimensional model. The review concludes by discussing the interrelations between the different aspects of attentional bias and the need for further research to clarify the mechanisms and moderators of attentional biases in anxiety disorders.