Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive inflammatory disease of the respiratory system characterized by persistent difficulties of breathing and dyspnea. COPD patients display emphysema, the anatomic destruction of lung parenchyma accompanied with a high risk for cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and mortality. The disease is not treatable. Therefore, identifying blood-based biomarkers of COPD, such as non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), may facilitate early diagnosis, understanding of the molecular basis of COPD and advancement of development of targeted therapies. There is accumulating evidence that dysregulation of ncRNAs plays a crucial role in a variety of diseases, including COPD. The current review gives an overview on extracellular ncRNAs, with a particular focus on microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circularRNAs (circRNAs) in plasma and serum of COPD patients. In addition, the potential role of exosomes carrying ncRNAs from cells to cell in the pathogenesis of COPD is also discussed. Furthermore, the characteristics of these ncRNAs along with their interplay among each other are additionally considered.