Mitophagy is a critical protective mechanism for eukaryotic mitochondrial quality. And compromised mitophagy leads to the inability to provide energy for the cell and leaves toxic substrates accumulating in the plasma, which eventually causes cell death. As the most prevalent chronic joint disease, Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by progressive cartilage degradation. And multiple studies indicate that mitophagy is widely implicated in the pathogenesis of OA. Defective mitophagy could lead to chondrocyte death, loss of extracellular matrix homeostasis and cartilage degeneration. Here we review the recent studies about the mechanism of mitophagy and its impact on OA.