Pyroptosis is a newly discovered programmed cell death. It is an important natural immune response and has obvious anti-infection function. Studies have shown that pyroptosis plays an important role in the occurrence and development of rheumatoid arthritis. Traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） has unique advantages in the prevention and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. How to guide TCM to effectively prevent and treat rheumatoid arthritis using pyroptosis theory is a new research hotspot in this field. This paper discussed the overview of pyroptosis theory，its mechanism， signal pathway，and application in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis as well as the research on the activity of TCM based on pyroptosis theory. It was found that the occurrence of pyroptosis was related to Caspase-1-dependent classical inflammatory body pathway and Caspase-1-independent non classical inflammatory body pathway， and pyroptosis produced distinct regulatory effect on the occurrence，development and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis，which would provide a new strategy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Additionally，TCM recipes such as Miao ethnomedicine prescription Sidaxue and Duhuo Jishengtang， and a variety of effective components such as punicalagin and paeoniflorin monomer derivatives exerted anti-rheumatic and other biological activities by regulating pyroptosis. This provided a theoretical basis and research ideas for the in-depth study of pyroptosis theory and guiding the prevention and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with TCM.