Background　In the process of pain, the endogenous descending inhibitory system was found to play an important role in pain transmission and modulation. Later, as people continue to study, the descending facilitatory system is proved to be different from the descending inhibitory system.　Objective　To further summarize the mechanism of the descending inhibitory/facilitatory system of rostral ventromedial medulla(RVM).　Content　The brain is modulated by peripheral nociceptive information through descending inhibitory/facilitatory system. The RVM is a set of critical nuclei in the pathway of the descending inhibitory and facilitatory. RVM produce inhibited or excited effects as a response to drug or electrical stimulation, which involved in the activation of the descending inhibitory/facilitatory system.　Tend　RVM needs to be further studied on how to participate in the regulation of nociceptive stimulus information in the descending inhibitory and facilitatory system.