Objective: To investigate the relationship between stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4), glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) and postoperative macular edema (ME) in patients with type 2 diabetic cataract and their predictive efficacy analysis. Methods: 195 patients (195 eyes) with type 2 diabetic cataract who were admitted to our hospital from January 2020 to March 2023 were selected, all patients underwent phacoemulsification combined with foldable intraocular lens implantation, patients were divided into ME group (45 cases) and non-ME group (150 cases) according to whether ME occurred after operation. The levels of SDF-1, ANGPTL4 and GRP78 in aqueous humor were detected before operation, and clinical data were collected. The influencing factors of postoperative ME in patients with type 2 diabetic cataract were analyzed by multivariate Logistic regression analysis, the predictive value of preoperative aqueous humor SDF-1, ANGPTL4 and GRP78 levels in predicting postoperative ME in patients with type 2 diabetic cataract were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: The levels of SDF-1, ANGPTL4 and GRP78 in aqueous humor before operation in ME group were higher than those in non-ME group (P<0.05). High glycated hemoglobin, high SDF-1, high ANGPTL4, and high GRP78 were risk factors for postoperative ME in patients with type 2 diabetic cataract (P<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of preoperative SDF-1, ANGPTL4 and GRP78 levels in aqueous humor to predict postoperative ME in patients with type 2 diabetic cataract was 0.809, 0.801 and 0.760 respectively, the area under the curve predicted by combined SDF-1, ANGPTL4 and GRP78 was 0.896, which was higher than that of single detection (P<0.05). Conclusion: The increase levels of SDF-1, ANGPTL4 and GRP78 in aqueous humor of patients with type 2 diabetic cataract before operation are relate to the occurrence of postoperative ME, the combination of SDF-1, ANGPTL4 and GRP78 has high application value in predicting the occurrence of ME.