Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a kind of common vascular complications in diabetes and one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness.It is characterized by leaky retinal vasculature, neovascularization and fiber membrane proliferation.Although there are various DR treatments, most of them aim at middle and late stage of the disease and have limited efficacy.Therefore, early diagnosis and precise treatment of DR are important.In recent years, the research of biomarkers related to DR has developed rapidly, which plays an important role in the risk assessment and early intervention of the disease.Nowadays, classic biomarkers such as HbA1c have been widely used in clinical practice.With the further study on DR, inflammatory biomarkers and angiogenesis-related biomarkers have been found to be closely related to the occurrence and development of the disease.At the same time, with the progress of modern technology, advanced equipment have built a broad platform for the exploration of DR biomarkers.Omics biomarkers, imaging biomarkers and artificial intelligence have become the focus of research and made important contributions to the early treatment of DR.This article summarized the key progress related to the DR biomarkers research to provide new clinical strategies in the efficient prevention, control and treatment of DR.