The flowers of Albuca setosa attract certain bees such as leafcutter and solitary bees during the flowering season for pollination. The flowers exhibit an unusual pollination mechanism, where the inner tepals have become a secondary stigma. The bees push their way between the tightly closed inner tepals to reach the nectar at the base of the flower, brushing against the tips of the inner tepals and the anthers as they do so, and pollen is deposited on their backs. When they visit another flower, the pollen deposited by the first flower is scraped off by the tip of the inner tepal of the second flower as they push their way in. The pollen germinates on the tip of the inner tepal and the pollen tubes grow into the style when the flower wilts.

It is a deciduous plant that is adapted to a summer-rainfall climate with a dry winter season, whereby the leaves wither in autumn or when the rains cease, to reduce water loss, and they store their resources in the bulb while they lie dormant during dry season. The bulb also allows the plants to survive fires and frost.

The seeds are dispersed by wind and gravity, where seeds are shaken out of the dry capsules and fall close to the mother plant.