Diabetic cataract (DC) is a common complication prior to diabetes mellitus, which is a metabolic disease with pathogenesis including abnormal metabolism of polyphenol pathway (PP) and non-enzymatic glycosylation (NEG) of proteins, etc. The therapeutic drugs are mainly aldose reductase inhibitors (ARIs) and glycosylation inhibitors. The therapeutic regimens for DC are becoming more and more diversified due to the development of biological testing and clinical research technology, thus improving its clinical efficacy. With the development of biological testing and clinical research technology, the treatment options for DC have become increasingly diversified and the treatment specificity has been improved, improving its clinical efficacy. In order to comprehensively analyze the pathogenesis and pharmacological treatment of this disease, the following review is made.