Chronic pain is a frequently occurring disease that can seriously decrease the quality of life. Activated microglia triggers neuroinflammation and leads to chronic pain. At present, the effects of various analgesic drugs are unsatisfactory. Minocycline is a kind of microglia inhibitor. The mechanism of minocycline inhibiting neuroinflammation and alleviating anxiety or depression may provide new ideas for treating chronic pain in the future. According to ICD‑11, this review summarized the potential mechanism of minocycline in the treatment of chronic pain from diverse perspectives, such as inhibiting microglial activation, reducing the expression and releasing of inflammatory mediators, reducing neuronal excitability, inhibiting mitogen‑activated protein kinase or other intracellular signaling pathways, and affecting synaptic transmission.