This study reviews dose–response models that are used in ecotoxicology. The focus lies on clarification of differences and similarities between models, and as a side effect, their different guises in ecotoxicology are unravelled. A look at frequently used dose–response models reveals major discrepancies, among other things in naming conventions. Therefore, there is a need for a unified view on dose–response modeling in order to improve the understanding of it and to facilitate communication and comparison of findings across studies, thus realizing its full potential. This study attempts to establish a general framework that encompasses most dose–response models that are of interest to ecotoxicologists in practice. The framework includes commonly used models such as the log‐logistic and Weibull models, but also features entire suites of models as found in various guidance documents. An outline on how the proposed framework can be implemented in statistical software systems is also provided. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:220–229. © 2009 SETAC