Objective To explore the efficacy and safety of Atorvastatin combined with Astragalus in the treatment of early-stage type-2 diabetic nephropathy (T2DN) patients, and investigate the renal function and serum TGF-β1 level. Methods A total of 135 patients with early-stage T2DN, who visited our hospital from April 2013 to March 2016, were randomly divided into treatment group, control group A, and control group B according to the random number table. The patients in the treatment group were treated with Atorvastatin and Astragalus. The cases in the control group B were treated with Astragalus. Results After 3 months of treatment, HDL-C was significantly increased and leptin was significantly decreased in the control group B compared with the control group A (P < 0.05); HbA1c, LDL-C, HDL-C and leptin of the treatment group were obviously improved compared with the control group A (P < 0.05); HbA1c, HDL-C and leptin of the treatment group were obviously improved compared with the control group B (P < 0.05). GFR, SCr, UAER, urine protein, hs-CRP and TGF-β1 in the treatment group and the control group B were all significantly improved compared with those in the control group A (P < 0.05). The clinical efficacy of the treatment group and the control group B was significantly better than that of the control group A. There were no serious adverse events in the three groups during treatment. Conclusions Atorvastatin combined with Astragalus could effectively decrease the serum TGF-β1 level and protect the renal function in the patients with early-stage type- 2 diabetic nephropathy with good safety.