During the healing of diabetic wounds, prolonged inflammation, difficulty in angiogenesis, and decreased epithelialization ability of keratinocytes often appear, which lead to delayed wound healing. Autophagy is a catabolic pathway that degrades intracellular proteins, promotes cell survival, and maintains cellular biological functions. Recent studies have shown that autophagy affects the healing of diabetic wounds through various mechanisms. This article reviews the potential mechanism of autophagy in diabetic wound healing: autophagy may delay wound healing by causing a decrease in the phagocytic ability and polarization of macrophages, a decrease in the angiogenesis ability of endothelial progenitor cells, a decrease in the migration ability and proliferation of keratinocytes, and an increase in the apoptosis of fibroblasts, which may provide new ideas for finding therapeutic targets for diabetic wound healing.