Venous thromboembolism (VTE) includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). As its incidence increases significantly with age, old people are at high risk. With the aging of population, there would be more and more elderly patients suffering from VTE.So, it is of great practical significance to identify the risk factors for VTE in the elderly so as to take effective preventive measures in time. In this review, some factors related to the occurrence of VTE in the aged have been summarized, including immobility-related risk factors, cancer, common chronic diseases in the elderly, chronic venous insufficiency and frailty syndrome, in order to find out their characteristics and provide reliable clinical references for the prevention of VTE in the elderly.