Autophagy is a vital phenomena which widely exists in eukaryotic cells.It runs through the cellular normal growth,development,and physiological pathology processes.Studies in recent years have shown that autophagy involves in the pathological process after stroke,and affects the survival and death of nerve cells,This article reviews the classification,formation process,molecular mechanism and detection of autophagy as well as its relation with stroke.Our purpose is to provide a new direction for clinical treatment of stroke.