Despite extensive research efforts, the mechanism of the nucleate boiling phenomena is still not clear. A direct numerical simulation of the boiling phenomena is one of the promising approaches in order to clarify its heat transfer characteristics and discuss their mechanism. Therefore, many DNS procedures have been developed based on recent highly advancing computer technologies. This brief review focuses on the state of the art in direct numerical simulation of the pool boiling phenomena over the past two decades. In this review, the fundamentals of the boiling phenomena and the bubble departure and micro-layer models are briefly introduced, and then the numerical procedures for tracking or capturing interface/surface shape such as the front tracking method, level set method, volume of fluid treatments, and other methods (Lattice Boltzmann method, phase-field method and so on) are briefly reviewed.