Background ： Neuronal cell death after general anesthesia has recently been documented in many immature animal models,but its study in humans presents Animal studies have been not demonstrated.Purpose：Here, the authors performed a literature review of anesthetics-induced neuroapoptosis and neuroprotection in developmental central nervous system .Content ： Some commonly used anesthetics, such as ketamine, isoflurane and propofol, can induce neuroapoptosis in developmental central nervous system, which causes great concern when using these anesthetic in pediatrics in clinical practice. Recently, some studies indicated that, xenon and dexmedetomidine can reduce anesthetic-induced neuroapoptosis. Trend：Further research may tends to confirm whether anesthetics could influence the development of central nervous system in the clinical studies and to elucidate the mechanism of anesthetics-induced neuroapoptosis.