Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is a serious complication of diabetes mellitus, which may lead to severe vision loss. Since 1980s, laser panretinal photocoagulation has been considered as primary treatment for proliferative diabetic retinopathy. With the appearance of anti vascular endothelial growth factor, treatment of proliferative diabetic retinopathy with anti vascular endothelial growth factor has expanded, and treatment with panretinal photocoagulation has reduced; some studies even considered replacing panretinal photocoagulation by injection of anti vascular endothelial growth factor. However, panretinal photocoagulation and anti vascular endothelial growth factor targeted 2 distinct factors in the pathogenesis of proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Therefore, combination of panretinal photocoagulation and anti vascular endothelial growth factor may enhance treatment results and reduce the disadvantage of each therapy. The aim of this literature review is to update the results of the combined treatment studies of panretinal photocoagulation and anti vascular endothelial growth factor, hence finding out the most optimized combination protocol.