A brief review of mathematical models of electrospinning is given. The nano-effect and electrospinning dilation are presented to explain how to prepare extremely high strength continuous nanotibers and nanoporous microspheres, respectively. According to the established models, vibration-electrospinning is introduced to improve electrospinability, Siro-electrospinning is suggested to mimic the spinning procedure of a spider and magneto-electrospinning is used to control the instability arising in the electrospinning process. A new theory linked to both classical mechanics and quantum mechanics should be developed to explain certain special phenomena in electrospinning. E-infinity theory is considered to be a potential theory to deal with quantum-like properties and nano-effect on the nanoscale. The emphasis of this brief review is upon the authors' recent work, and the references are not exhaustive. (c) 2007 Society of Chemical Industry.