New onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation (NODAT) is a common complication after liver transplantation and has attracted the attention of many scholars, for its high incidence and great harm, and severe influence on the function of the graft and the quality of life of the recipient. There are many risk factors for NODAT, which can be divided into non-regulable and regulable risk factors. The non-regulable risk factors include age, gender, donor liver steatosis, cirrhosis, and family history of diabetes. The regulable risk factors comprise obesity, calcineurin inhibitors, glucocorticoids, hepatitis virus infection, cytomegalovirus infection, and pre-transplant blood glucose. Here, the authors address the pathogenetic mechanism and risk factors for NODAT based on recent research reports.