Many laboratories have been attempting to integrate Chinese medicine (CM) with the research of stem cells in order to explore this promising frontier. Studies on the combination of CM and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have found that some effective components from CM could activate endogenous stem cells and induce stem cells to differentiate into neural-like cells in vitro and promote angiogenesis. This review summarized the latest research findings of BMSCs and their application combined with CM in the treatment of cerebral ischemia.