The prevention and amelioration of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury has long been a hotspot in the research of cardiology. Various laboratory studies have demonstrated that inhalation anesthetics play a protective role in the myocardial ischemic preconditioning and postconditioning. Meanwhile, a considerate number of clinical data have been accumulated from surgery with extracorporeal circulation. Inhalation anesthetics may be the most promising method of myocardial protection in clinical practice. The research progress of inhalation anesthetics in the mechanism of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury is reviewed in this paper.