Abstract: Stroke is the leading cause of death in Chinese currently, characterized by high incidence, high morbidity and high mortality, of which ischemic stroke accounted for 87%. However, it still lacks the ideal treatment. Stem cells are a class of cells with self-renewal ability and high differentiation potential. Stem cell transplantation breaks the irreversibility of nerve injury to post-stroke infarct area. However, stem cells also requiring specific chemokines to promote their directional migration to the injured tissue site after transplanted. Stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) is one of the typical chemokines. SDF-1α and its specific receptor CXCR4 can induce its migration, increase its proliferation and promote angiogenesis. In this paper, the role of SDF-1α/CXCR4 axis in the treatment of ischemic stroke in stem cells is reviewed in order to provide a theoretical basis for enhancing the efficacy of stem cell transplantation in the treatment of ischemic stroke.