The article describes some variants of mechanisms of nitro compounds reduction, offered by authors in the scientific literature. The focus is on the description of the work of Kazakh and Russian chemists working in the field of catalysis. In most of the works, the classical scheme of the mechanism of the hydrogenation of Haber-Lukashevich nitrobenzene is confirmed and detailed by experimental methods. One of the interesting aspect of the article is description the mechanism of Ya.A. Dorfman which used the orbital theory of catalysis. The orbital approach of the Ya.A. Dorfman mechanism is constructed in the light of modern orbital representations and is valid for the hydrogenation of the nitro group on various catalysts. Among the discussed mechanisms are ideas of Haber, Debus, Jungers, V.P. Shmonina, Lukashevich, M. Geirovsky, Yu. B. Vasilyev, M.V. Klyuev, E.F. Weinstein, E. Gelder, Ya.A. Dorfman and others.