In the absence of symptoms, silent cerebral infarction can be discovered incidentally during an imaging or neuropathological examination. After cardiovascular surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass, the morbidity is high, and it may contribute to neurocognitive dysfunction, symptomatic cerebral infarction and increased risk of death. The embolus caused by various operations intraoperatively are closely associated with this progress. However, controversies over the prevention still persist. As a result, an overall summary of silent cerebral infarction after cardiovascular surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass will be presented in this review.