Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder in which the frequency has become worldwide. Because of this, there is always an epidemic in some countries of the world, with the number of people affected is expected that within the next decade to double due to the increasing aging of the population, thus increasing the existing burden of health care providers, particularly in the less developed countries. This review is based on a search Medline, Cochrane Database of Systemic journals and references to the literature list at the bottom.Subject heading and key wordsused include type 2 diabetes, the prevalence, the current diagnosis and therapy in progress. Onlyarticles in English were included. Early detection and diagnosis is still for the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria include clinical and laboratory parameters. No cure has been found yet for the disease;Treatment details, however, include lifestyle changes, treatment of obesity, oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin sensitizers such as metformin, a biguanidethat reduces insulin resistance, is still the firstline drug specifically for overweight patients.Other effective drugs includesnonsulfonylureasecretagogues, thiazolidinediones, inhibitors of alpha-glucosidase and insulin.Recent research in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes has led to the introduction of new drugs such as glucagon-like peptide 1 analogoues: Dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibitors of the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 and 11s-1-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, glucokinase activators of insulin release and pancreatic-G-protein-coupled fatty-acid-receptor agonists, glucagon receptor antagonists, inhibitors of the hepatic metabolism of glucose production and fast release bromocriptine. Inhaled insulin has been approved in 2006, but was withdrawn from the market due to low patronage.