Traumatic brain injury is the most common neurosurgical disease， characterized by high morbidity and mortality. On the basis of primary external force injury， secondary brain injury arises from pathophysiological changes such as oxidative stress， apoptosis， and neuroinflammation， leading to impaired cellular function and brain function. Therefore， finding ways to improve the treatment of secondary brain injury has become particularly important. Autophagy is the process of cell self-phagocytosis. Increasing evidence indicates that the autophagy pathway following traumatic brain injury can affect pathophysiological processes such as oxidative stress， apoptosis， neuroinflammation and so on. This paper reviews the autophagy process and research on autophagy in traumatic brain injury， aiming to identify novel therapeutic targets for traumatic brain injury.