Diabetic nephropathy is the most serious complication of diabetes and a major cause of end-stage renal disease worldwide. Although hyperglycaemia is widely considered to be the main driving force for the progression of diabetic nephropathy to end-stage renal disease, inflammatory signaling pathways and inflammatory cells also play important roles in the pathogenesis and progression of the disease. Therefore, treatment strategies targeting the inflammation-related intracellular signaling pathways may become a new direction for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. Currently, the development of anti-inflammatory drugs for diabetic nephropathy is also underway, and they have shown promising results in experimental models. This article focuses on the connection between inflammatory cells and inflammatory signaling pathways and diabetic nephropathy, as well as the current research progress on targeted anti-inflammatory treatment.