Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is considered to be a pulmonary manifestation of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), often occurring as a complication of disease, and worsening the prognosis of patients. In recent years, the incidence of trauma has increased year by year. Severe trauma can lead to SIRS, which is one of the common risk factors of ARDS. The spleen is the largest peripheral immune organ of the body, containing a large number of immune cells and secreting inflammatory factors. The inflammatory factors play an important role in the formation of traumatic ARDS. In recent years, the benefits of treating ARDS by inhibiting spleen-induced inflammatory response have gradually been discovered, providing new ideas for the treatment of ARDS. Therefore, the research status of spleen-mediated inflammatory response in traumatic ARDS is of great significance for the prevention and treatment of traumatic ARDS. This article reports the spleen-mediated systemic inflammatory response, the role of inflammatory mediators in the development of ARDS, and the current state of research on ARDS treatment to explore new approaches to the prevention and treatment of traumatic ARDS.