Abstract: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), characterized by airflow constraint, is a chronic respiratory disease closely related to the chronic inflammatory response of the airways and lungs to harmful gases or toxic particles, which may further develop into pulmonary heart disease and respiratory failure.At present the complex pathogenesis of COPD is considered to be the result of the interaction of a variety of genetic and environmental factors, and there is stiu no safe and effective drug for the treatment. This article reviews the pathogenesis of COPD from such aspects as oxidative stress, protease/antiprotease imbalance, immune mechanism, cell aging and cell repair mechanism, cell necrosis and autophagy,withan introduction to the potential targets and clinical research progress of related drugs, including β2 receptor agonists, muscarinic antagonists, theophylline and its derivatives, drugs targeting inflammatory mediators, protease inhibitors, kinase inhibitors, PED4 inhibitors, glandular glycoside receptor modulators,and antioxidants, which may provide some reference for the development of new drugs for COPD.