According to the lastest statistics, the overall morbidity and mortality of cancer in China still show an upward trend compared with historical data. An in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis and development is important to formulate future treatment strategies. Interleukin 11 (IL-11) is a member of cytokines that traditionally promote megakaryocyte maturation and regulate immune activity. In recent years, the promoting effect of IL-11 on tumor has been gradually discovered. This review mainly expounds that IL-11 is regulatedtransforming growth factor-β/drosophila mothers against decapentaplegic protein (TGF-β/Smad) pathway, and may play a role in tumorigenesis, drug resistance, metastasis and tumor microenvironment through signal transduction pathways such as Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway and phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) pathway, and explores the application prospect of interfering IL-11 signal transduction in tumor therapy.