Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most serious complications of diabetes mellitus, which affects the health and life quality seriously. The development of procedures for prevention and treatment of diabetic retinopathy is one of the most important problems that should be solved. Epidemiological studies indicate that the development of diabetic retinopathy is not only determined by duration of diabetes and blood glucose control; individual diversities also play an important role. Some patients have a long course of disease and poor control of blood glucose, but they do not have diabetic retinopathy or only show slight pathological changes after a long term follow-up. Other patients only have a short term disease and well control of blood glucose, but they develop serious proliferative diabetic retinopathy. These patients usually have a positive family history. This phenomenon may relate to various genetic liabilities. This review introduce the recent advances in the studies of genetic polymorphisms in diabetic retinopathy.