Ischemic stroke (IS) is a neurological disorder caused by cerebral vascular occlusion, which leads to the interruption of cerebral blood circulation. It brings varying degrees of disability burden to a large number of patients. At present, the incidence, prevalence, and mortality of IS are on the rise as a whole, which has become a public health problem to be solved urgently. However, the treatment of IS is limited, and the prognosis is unsatisfactory. It is worth noting that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have become the focus of basic and clinical research because they are speculated to promote the functional recovery of the damaged central nervous system. This review summarizes the sources and administration routes of MSCs, and focuses on the research progress in the mechanism and the clinical research status of MSCs in the treatment of IS, in order to provide a reference for the further exploration of clinical treatment strategies of MSCs in IS.