Arterial spin labeling (ASL) in perfusion magnetic resonance imaging is based on endogenous contrast (hydrogen proton in arterial blood), and it has drawn widespread clinical attention and application due to its advantages, including noninvasiveness, convenient operation, low cost, quantitative measurement of cerebral blood flow(CBF), and good repeatability. Recently, the craniocerebral disease has become one of the diseases with highest incidence, which has drawn great attention from scientists and clinicians in and outside China; ASL could be helpful in the clinical examination and diagnosis of craniocerebral diseases. This review summarized recent reports on the clinical application of ASL in the cerebrovascular diseases, brain tumors and mental diseases, so as to provide references for future ASL research in craniocerebral diseases.