Objective To summarize the domestic and abroad articles related to the research on the relation between microRNA （miRNA） and pancreatic cancer，and explore the important effects of miRNA expression patterns in diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Methods “microRNA and pancreatic cancer” were searched as key words by PubMed and CNKI series full-text database retrieval systems from 2000 to 2012. Totally 60 English papers and 15 Chinese papers were obtained. Choice criteria：the basic research of miRNA and pancreatic cancer，the clinical research of miRNA and pancreatic cancer， and the prospect of miRNA in pancreatic cancer diagnosis and treatment. According to the choice criteria，31 papers were finally analyzed. Results The miRNA expression spectrum and specific miRNA expression such as miR-21，miR-34，miR-217，miR-196a，miR-10a，miR-155，miR-221，miR-222，miR-181a，miR-181b，miR-181d， and the family members of miR-200 and let-7 might be used as tumor markers to differentiate pancreatic cancer from normal pancreas，chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic endocrine tumors，and might be used as prognostic factor to predict the outcome. Conclusions miRNA expression spectrum are not only related to diagnosis of pancreatic cancer， but also have provided a new research direction and method for gene therapy of pancreatic cancer．