Nowadays, many new types of hypoglycemic agents have developed with profound researches on the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus (DM). These drugs offer more options in the treatment of the disease. Rational selection of these agents will effectively control blood glucose and reduce adverse reactions and complications in the DM patients. In this article, we reviewed the progress in the drugs for the treatment, focused on some hypoglycemic agents and new agents, such as insulin?secretagogues,?insulin?sensitizers, α-glucosidase inhibitors (AGI), glucagon-like peptide 1(GLP-1), dipeptidyl peptidase Ⅳ inhibitors (DPP-Ⅳ) as well as insulin, and also introduced many other manufacturing drugs which can decrease blood glucose and delay the complications.