Sepsis is a common cause of death of patients in surgical intensive care unit (ICU). Because of its high prevalence, high mortality, and lack of effective therapy, sepsis has become one of important diseases that threaten human health. The development of sepsis is closely related to the imbalance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses. However, the underlying regulatory mechanism is still largely unclear. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the important signaling transduction pathways involved in inflammatory response in patients with sepsis, including nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), Janus kinase-signal transducer and activators of transcription (JAK-STAT), phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/serine- threonine protein kinase (PI3K/AKT), glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3), the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP), and the expression of cytokines, is of great significance for finding highly effective preventive and therapeutic strategies for sepsis. In this article, we summarize the signaling pathways involved in inflammatory response in sepsis and the interactions of these signaling pathways.