OBJECTIVE: The review the effect of cytokines on repair of tendon injury and the relevant mechanism. METHODS: By broadly consulting recent issues about cytokines involved in tendon repair, a variety of cytokines with effects in repairing injured tendon was made and the possible mechanisms were summarized, with unsolved problems discussed. RESULTS: There were many cytokines participated in the procedure of tendon repair, among which insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), transforming growth-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) played significant roles. Most of the relevant researches were limited in experimental study in vitro. CONCLUSION: Cytokines possibly can accelerate tendon repair and show great potentials in future clinical application.