Monte Carlo simulations have continuously increased their importance in solar neutrino physics. Nowadays they play a crucial role in the interpretation of acquired data. Consequently the understanding and a proper modeling of the detector response is a key point for a successful experiment. For example, recent Borexino updates show in a clear way how precision measurements can benefit from a reliable detector simulation. This paper highlights the main ingredients for building a reliable simulation of a solar neutrino detector, focusing on the aspects common to all the experiments. Moreover, a description of the peculiarities of the simulation codes of different solar neutrino experiments is reported. Particular emphasis will be given to a novel efficient method for simulating external background events surviving passive shielding. This technique allows to reliably predict the effect in the final spectrum of the contaminants present in the construction materials and can be very useful for the next generation of liquid scintillator experiments.
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