Traditionally, cell death has been categorized into apoptosis or necrosis. However, a growing number of research indicates necroptosis, distinct from apoptosis and necrosis, contributes to a range of human diseases as a new mechanism of cell death. In order to achieve a better understanding of different cell death models and an improvement for development of new drugs associated with this pathway, the mechanism of necroptosis, the differences among apoptosis, necrosis and necroptosis, as well as the role of necroptosis in human diseases and its relation to discovery of drug targets, are discussed in this article.