As a ubiquitous phenomenon in eukaryotes, autophagy not only achieves the degradation and recycling of intracellular substances, but also interacts with a series of processes such as the appressorium development, turgor increase, mycelium formation, and completion of infection, etc, in the early infection stage of plant pathogenic fungi, and plays an important role in these bio-processes. In the present review the autophagy related genes and the autophagy process of phytopathogenic fungi are smmarized; the regulation and influence of autophagy on the growth and development and the pathogenicity of pathogenic fungi are generalized; the autophagy related signaling pathways of pathogenic fungi are illustrated; and the main molecular mechanisms of autophagy influencing the infection processes of phytopathogenic fungi are clarified. These provide new strategies and ideas for screening new drugs that inhibit pathogenic fungi infection by using autophagy-related genes or proteins as targets in future studies.