Autophagy, the main degradation process of organelles, protein and other substances in the eukaryotic cells, plays an important role in the maintenance of homeostasis. Lens is a transparent tissue without vessel, which is mainly composed of a layer of epithelium cells and differentiating fiber cells. To maintain the transparency of lens, lenticular cells degrade their organelles and abnormal aggregated protein through autophagy. Abnormal function of autophagy is closely related to the formation of cataract. This article is aimed to introduce the related knowledge of autophagy and summarize the research progress of autuphagy in the procedure of cataract formation.