Atherosclerosis is a complex, chronic disease caused by multiple factors, which is characterized by lipid accumulation, smooth muscle cell migration into the intima and proliferation, inflammatory cell infiltration, collagen deposition and plaque formation in the vessel wall of large- and medium-sized arteries. A growing body of evidence suggests that NLRP3 inflammasome, pyroptosis, exosomes, gut microbiota, peripheral vascular adipose tissue(PVAT), non-coding RNA and so forth are closely associated with the occurrence and development of atherosclerosis. Studying the role of NLRP3 inflammasome, pyroptosis and other factors in the development of atherosclerosis will help to further understand the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and find new more effective therapeutic pathways and biomarkers. This review will summarize and discuss the current knowledge on the role of NLRP3 inflammasome, pyroptosis, exosomes, gut microbiota, PVAT, non-coding RNA in atherosclerosis development, specifically concentrating on the latest research progresses of Chinese scholars in the past two years.