Many researches show that autophagy and apoptosis coexist in a variety of diseases. Autophagy is the use of lysosomes by eukaryotes to degrade damaged or aging organelles to achieve material recycling，which is an important protective mechanism for cells to respond to changes in the internal and external environment;and apoptosis is an active process regulated by different cell signaling pathways，which leads to cell death. In normal physiological condition，autophagy maintains the basic function of intracellular environ－ment stabilization. But when autophagy is over-activated，cells are transformed into apoptosis due to a large amount of accumulated protein that cannot be digested and degraded. In recent years，the morbidity and disability rate of cerebral stroke has aroused great concern among scholars. Therefore，how to regulate the mutual transformation of autophagy and apoptosis in ischemic stroke has always been a common concern of the academic community. To this end，we summarize the past researches and hope to provide ref－erence for the development of basic research and clinical medicine.