Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in the world. Drugs and surgery can be used to control intraocular pressure, however, they can't reverse the apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells effectively. With the development of genetics and molecular biology, a large amount of research on the pathogenesis of glaucoma has been conducted. This review discusses the potential role of Rho/ROCK, TGF-β/Smad, PI3K/Akt, Nrf2/Keap1/ARE and BDNF/TrkB signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of glaucoma, and expects to provide new ideas and methods for the treatment of glaucoma.