Abstract: Atrial fibrillation is a common arrhythmia with an increasing morbidity, which seriously endangers human healthy. The mechanisms of atrial fibrillation involve cardiac structural factors, genetic factors, autonomic nerve factors, inflammatory factors and psychological factors. Exercise rehabilitation effectively reduces the all-cause mortality of cardiovascular disease and plays an important in the management of atrial fibrillation. At present, the mechanisms of exercise intervention in the occurrence and development of atrial fibrillation have not yet been fully elucidated. It is still lack of sufficient clinical data to support the application of exercise rehabilitation in the prevention and treatment of atrial fibrillation. In the present paper, we summarized the effects and the mechanisms of exercise rehabilitation in atrial fibrillation from the aspects of autonomic nerve function and resting heart rate, inflammatory response, cardiac function and structure, endocrine and metabolism, mental health status and sleep quality, in order to provide more ideas and references for the application of exercise rehabilitation therapy in atrial fibrillation.