passphrase and ssh authentication

In which case could be better don't use a passphrase creating an authentication key for ssh comunications?
Thanks in advance.

The passphrase is used for enhanced security I think. if you are connecting to a box that has a lot of users and more than one root user, it will be considered good practice to have this passphrase in your file. Otherwise someone can steal your private key and connect to the server without being asked for an additional feature as password.