Abstract: Heart failure (HF) is the terminal stage of cardiovascular disease, which not only affects the quality of life of patients, but also increases the medical burden of the country. Inflammation is involved in the occurrence and development of heart failure. In recent years, a number of studies have shown that the inflammatory marker neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has important value in predicting the severity, prognosis, length of hospital stay and diagnosis of heart failure. This paper reviews the relationship between NLR and HF in order to further understand the value of NLR in the diagnosis and evaluation of HF patients.