To investigate the butterfly diversity in Hefei, we selected three regions along a gradient of urbanization, namely urban, suburban and rural regions from March to October, 2010. A total of 1484 butterfly individuals were collected, belonging to 7 families, 28 genera and 34 species, among which Pieris rapae, Pseudozizeeria maha and Polygonia caureum were dominant species. Diversity index of butterfly varied with the three different urbanization regions. The diversity indices of butterfly in the three different urbanization regions were in order of rural site > suburban site > urban site. Temporally, the Shannon index and richness index at rural and suburban sites were the highest in July, while they were the highest in August in urban site. The Simpson index at urban and suburban sites was the highest in August, while it was the highest in July at rural site. The evenness index in the three different urbanization areas was the highest in August. Therefore, it was suggested that different measures should be taken to conserve and enhance the biodiversity based on the urbanization level and habitat type under rapid urbanization.