Diabetic retinopathy(DR) is a retina manifestation of systemic capillary circulatory disorder caused by glycometabolism disorder. Damage to the retina was mainly the result of hyperglycemia, thickening and increased permeability of vascular walls. It is also accompanied with microvessel disorders of brain and kidney. DR is one of the most common microvessel complications of diabetes, which may cause vision loss severely. Its occurrence and development is depended on the degree of metabolic disorders and also related with age, course of the disease, genetic factor and management of diabetes. As the disease progresses, DR enters a proliferative stage, which is the main reason for blindness. The incidence of DR is 25% after 5 years of diabetes, 60% after 10 years and 75%-80% 15 years later, of which 25% are proliferative diabetic retinopathy. DR seriously threaten life quality of human. This paper reviews the prevention and treatment of DR.