Modelling the dispersion of atmospheric pollutants plays an important role in regulatory and epidemiological settings. Although the majority of modelling concepts were developed in the 1980s, a significant amount of optimisation and refinement of dispersion models has occurred since this time. In addition, some completely novel models such as computational fluid dynamics have emerged. Furthermore, next generation models are continually improving the accuracies of the results obtained. This review provides a non-technical outline of the mechanisms of atmospheric pollutant dispersion modelling and discusses common model types and their applications.