Ischemic stroke is a common and frequently occurring disease, with high morbidity and mortality, which seriously threatens human health. At present, the common clinical treatment is mainly focused on various measures to improve cerebral circulation, such as thrombolysis, antithrombotic therapy, antiplatelet therapy, defibrinogen therapy, haemodilution and so on. The irreversible injury of neurons is the main reason for the difficulty of achieving satisfactory results. In recent years, the technology of isolation and cultivation of neural stem cells with potential for self-renewal and differentiation has gradually matured in vitro. More and more researches show that the transplantation of neural stem cells into ischemic stroke animal models can achieve effective treatment. In this paper, the biological characteristics of neural stem cells and the mechanism and progress of neural stem cell transplantation for ischemic stroke are reviewed.