Macrophages play multiple roles in atherosclerosis. The progression of atherosclerosis is associated with morphological and functional changes in the lymphatic vessels of the diseased arteries, but the mechanism is not fully understood. This paper mainly reviews the origin and classification, the markers and the function of macrophage in atherosclerosis, the origin, the structure function and the markers of lymphatic vessels in atherosclerosis, the changes of arterial wall lymphangiogenesis in different stages of atherosclerotic lesions, the functional role of lymphangiogenesis in atherosclerosis, the lymphatic migration of macrophages and its mechanism involved in lymphangiogenesis, in order to provide a basis for the mechanism research and clinical treatment of atherosclerosis.