Previous studies have shown that ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/RI) involves a complex pathophysiological process, but the specific molecular biological mechanisms are still unclear. Recent studies indicated that circular RNAs also plays an important role on I/RI. Circular RNAs are a class of specially‑encoded RNAs. Due to their insensitivity to exonuclease, circular RNAs are more stable and resistant to degradation than linear RNAs, which contributes to its obvious advantages in the development and application as a new clinical diagnostic marker and target therapy. This review introduces the characteristics functions and roles of circular RNAs on I/RI in vital organs (such as the brain, heart, liver, lungs and others), so as to discuss the main problems and prospect of circular RNAs on I/RI.