This study aims to summarize and makes a reference of anti-inflammatory activities of herbal medicines. In this process, this review collated papers of anti-inflammation-focused studies using herbal medicines in Oriental medical journals since 2003. Finally 221 papers were included and the type of materials, the type and effective classification of herbal medicines, the type of cells used in the experiments and the action and mechanisms of herbal medicine were analysed. The herbal medicines having the effects of decreasing fire and tonifying and nourishment were used the most. Most herbal medicines in this study can decrease proinflammatory cytokines, NO and prostaglandin 2 (PGE 2) production, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression by regulating of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-${kappa}B$) and/or mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs).