Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle characterized by repeated cycles, continuous amendment of goals and quality improvement, has been applied in medical teaching. Taking the preclinical training at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University as an example, this paper expounds the design and implementation of PDCA cycle in the teaching of ophthalmology academic graduate students, and evaluates the teaching effect through theoretical, operational assessment and questionnaire survey. The results showed that at the end of the training, 37(100.0%) students achieved the qualified standards in both theoretical and operational assessment, 27(71.1%) students believed that PDCA cycle was more effective than traditional teaching in the pre-clinical training course. It can be seen that the PDCA cycle is used for preclinical training of ophthalmic research-type graduate students, which can help students more effectively master ophthalmic professional knowledge and operational skills, and improve the clinical teaching quality of ophthalmic research-type graduate students.