In this thesis we discuss the matrix models techniques applied to two dimensional quantum gravity, the dynamical triangulations (DT) approach and its causal version, so-called causal dynamical triangulations (CDT). By virtue of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, the Einstein-Hilbert action in two dimensions becomes a topological invariant, thereupon the evaluation of the path integral becomes a simple combinatorial counting problem of graphs drawn on a Riemann surface, which leads to a topological expansion of the partition function. Using integral methods from quantum field theory we can understand the correspondence between large N matrix models and a lattice (DT and CDT) formulation of quantum gravity, where the N ×N Hermitian matrices generates planar graphs (fatgraphs). Once the matrix integral is reduced to an integral of its eigenvalues, we solve the matrix model using two techniques: Orthogonal polynomials and saddle point analysis. Using orthogonal polynomials we compute the free energy in the Large N limit for different potentials. Finally, we study DT and CDT using matrix models and further make contact with a Coulomb gas analogy.