Autophagy is a process of lysosome degradation, which plays an important role in maintaining cell homeostasis and organ integrity through the degradation of misfolded proteins, removal of damaged organelles and excess lipids, which is one of the research hotspots in recent years. Liver disease often develops into chronic disease with high mortality, which seriously affects the life safety and quality of life of patients. Studies have shown that autophagy participates in the processes of cellular immunity and oxidative stress, plays an important role in a variety of liver diseases, has the characteristics of two-way regulation, and moderate autophagy has a protective effect. Excessive or dysfunctional autophagy can promote cell death and lead to the occurrence and development of the disease. at present, regulating autophagy is considered as a potential treatment. Based on chronic viral hepatitis, liver fibrosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, acute liver failure and primary liver cancer, this paper reviews the functional characteristics and regulatory mechanism of autophagy in liver diseases. to explore new therapeutic targets for liver diseases, in order to provide new ideas and basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment.