Choledocholithiasis is one of the most common benign surgical diseases. With the progress of science and technology, the development of medical techniques and the improvement of hospital hardware facilities, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) have become the main treatment methods for choledocholithiasis, with the clinical advantages of less trauma and rapid recovery. However, data from multicenter clinical trials showed that the postoperative recurrence rate of common bile duct stones is 4%-24%. Therefore, the postoperative recurrence of common bile duct stones is a challenge to be faced and an urgent problem to be solved for surgeons. The formation of choledocholithiasis is a complex process of the interactions between genetic and environmental factors, and its specific mechanism has not been fully clarified. The mechanism of postoperative recurrence and related factors have also become the challenges and hotspots of clinical research. Through literature review and extraction, the authors present the mechanism and research progress of postoperative recurrence of common bile duct stones from the three dimensionalities: duodenal papillary sphincter function, biliary microecology and biliary anatomy, so as to provide new strategies and research directions for preventing postoperative recurrence of choledocholithiasis.