Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease which seriously destroys the healthy and life quality. Studies have demonstrated that chondrocyte apoptosis plays a vital role in the pathology progress of osteoarthritis. This paper summarized the chondrocyte apoptosis-related signal transduction pathways to clarify the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis-related apoptotic target molecules and provide a theoretical basis for targeted drug screening for osteoarthritis.