Autophagy is a highly conserved and important degradation pathway in eukaryotes during evolution. Damaged proteins or organelles are wrapped into autophagic vesicles with bilayer membrane structure, they are then transported to lysosomes(animals) or vacuoles(yeast and plants) for degradation, and finally the recycling of cell contents is completed. With the in-depth study of autophagy in animals and yeast, people are paying more and more attention to plant autophagy, and the related research is gradually expanding from model plants to crops. To better understand the effects of autophagy in crop yield, quality and resistance, etc, we summarized the recent advances in autophagy in crop plants, and discussed the regulatory mechanism of autophagy in the formation of important agronomic traits in depth. This paper will provide references for further improving crop agronomic traits and agricultural production efficiency.