Cartilage injury is a common clinical degenerative disease. The therapy changed from the traditional conservative and surgical treatment to regeneration and repair，and hydrogel is a commonly used biomaterial for cartilage repair. Due to the complex tissue specificity of cartilage，the design and development of functional hydrogels with matching performance has become an important direction. Stimuli-responsive hydrogels with excellent controllability and smart response showed unique advantages in repairing cartilage. This paper reviewed studies of hydrogels in articular cartilage repair from two aspects of internal and external stimuli

which can be used for reference in clinical applications.