Objective To screen for miRNAs potentially involved in the pathogenesis of renal ischemia/reperfusion injury. Methods Renal ischemia reperfusion injury model was established with SD rats. Twelve hours after reperfusion, blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine were determined and miRNA expression in the kidney was detected using miRNA microarray. Bioinformatics methods were used for a preliminary analysis of potential targets for differentially expressed miRNAs. Results Blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine were both elevated 12 h after reperfusion. miRNA microassay showed 36 aberrantly expressed miRNAs, with 15 miRNAs having an expression level higher than 2 folds. Results of real-time PCR were generally in accordance with the microarray results. The elevated miRNAs included miR-290, miR-894, miR-292-5p, miR-327, miR-374, miR-98, miR-352, miR-132, miR-146b and miR-196a; and the down-regulated miRNAs included miR-145, miR-329, miR-375, miR-140* and miR-29a. Bioinformatics showed that these miRNAs were related to inflammation, cell death and proliferation, angiogensis and fibrosis. Conclusion Several miRNAs are aberrantly expressed during renal ischemia/reperfusion injury, which may influence renal injury through regulating inflammation, cell death and proliferation, angiogensis and fibrosis, but the exact mechanism remains to be further investigated.