The nuclear receptor superfamily and the transcriptional factors associated with cytokines are inherently different families of signaling molecules and activate gene transcription by binding to their respective responsive element. However, it has become increasingly clear from our works and others that nuclear receptors are important regulators of cytokine production and function through complex and varied interactions between these distinct transcriptional factors. This review provides a general overview of the mechanism of action of nuclear receptors and their transcriptional crosstalk with transcriptional factors associated with cytokine transduction pathways. One of the most important mechanistic aspects is protein to protein interaction through a direct or co-regulator-mediated indirect manner. Such crosstalk is crucially involved in physiological and therapeutic roles of nuclear receptors and their ligands in immunity, inflammation and cytokine-related tumors.