Cerebrovascular disease is a common and frequently-occurring disease in the clinic. The mortality and disability rate are extremely high. It seriously threatens human health and life，and the burden on society and families is immeasurable. Therefore，scientists and clinicians need to make great efforts to find potential pathogenic mechanisms，so as to take appropriate preventive measures and successful treatment methods. Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury （CIRI） involves a variety of mechanisms，including free radical action，excitatory amino acids，cellular Ca2+ overload. To understand the mechanism of CIRI and deepen the understanding of the process of cerebral ischemic injury is conducive to the research and selection of medication，so as to achieve the purpose of treatment. Natural medicines have a long history of treatment for cerebral ischemia and have accumulated rich theoretical knowledge. Screening active ingredients from natural medicines is also the current trend of research and development. The whole world is promoting the separation of chemical components of natural medicines and their application in the treatment of brain diseases. Researchers in my country have carried out a series of studies on this，and have made great progress. This article briefly reviews the researchprogress of cerebral ischemic injury mechanism and the active ingredients of various naturalmedicines on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.