After long-term clinical practice，traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has formed a relatively mature treatment system for diabetic nephropathy，which is an important part of the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. TCM often contains a variety of bioactive substances，and has the advantage of multi-molecular targets. It can also change the compatibility according to the specific situation of patients to bring about different curative effects. These characteristics make TCM have great potential in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. In addition，with the development of molecular biology technology and various experimental technologies such as omics，more and more studies are constantly exploring the specific mechanism of TCM treatment of diabetic nephropathy，such as autophagy，inflammation，oxidative stress and glucose metabolism，etc. This review will provide insights into the curative effect and the mechanism of TCM in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. Hopefully，this review could provide insights into clinical and basic research of TCM.