Hypergraph is the generalization of graph, which has significant advantages in representing higher-order features of complex relationships compared with ordinary graph. As a relatively new data structure, hypergraph is playing a crucial role in various application fields increasingly. By appropriately using hypergraph models and algorithms, specific problems in real world were modeled and solved with higher efficiency and quality. Existing surveys of hypergraph mainly focus on the theory and techniques of hypergraph itself, and lack of a summary of modeling and solving methods in specific scenarios. To this end, after summarizing and introducing some fundamental concepts of hypergraph, the application methods, techniques, common issues, and solutions of hypergraph in various application scenarios were analyzed; by summarizing the existing work, some problems and obstacles that still exist in the applications of hypergraph to real-world problems were elaborated. Finally, the future research directions of hypergraph applications were prospected.