Diabetes has become a global epidemic disease now. Its chronic progressive deterioration and the acute and chronic complications affect the quality of the patients' lives seriously. The prevention and treatment of diabetes has become one of the research focuses in recent years. NLRP3 (NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3) inflammasome can recognize the metabolic stress signals, and cause caspase-1 activation and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) production, and is closely related to diabetes development. The latest studies have shown that NLRP3 inflammasome will be a new potential target for the treatment of diabetes. This article reviews the activation and regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome, and the effect of NLRP3 inflammasome on glucose metabolism and its targeted therapy in diabetes.