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BACKGROUND: Spinal cord injury is a damage to the spinal cord with a high morbidity that can be divided into primary and secondary injury. Secondary injury does more harm to the body than primary injury, which can be regulated and improved through proper interventions. In addition to the drugs, surgical decompression and other traditional treatments, hypothermia is an important physical intervention that has been shown to regulate secondary injury following spinal cord injury, and hold neuroprotective effect. OBJECTIVE: To introduce different hypothermia treatments for spinal cord injury and the effect on the disordered environment after spinal cord injury, as well as summarize the latest progression. METHODS: A computer-based search of CNKI and PubMed databases was conducted for the articles addressing the application of hypothermia in spinal cord injury published from January 2001 to June 2016, using the keywords of “therapeutic hypothermia or low temperature, spinal cord injury” in Chinese and English, respectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Hypothermia is divided into systematic and local hypothermia, and the former is simple and convenient, but it may lead to complications. Local hypothermia can quickly reach the target temperature, to make deep hypothermia at injury site and stablize the core temperature in the body, but it is invasive, and the necessary time of locating and maintaining effective temperature is a challenge. In general, hypothermia can improve the disordered microenvironment after spinal cord injury, reduce inflammatory infiltration, regulate the expression of relative genes and proteins, and promote the proliferation and differentiation of endogenous nerve cells. There are basic and clinical studies on hypothermia neuroprotection against spinal cord injury from various aspects; thereafter, hypothermia is a promising treatment strategy for spinal cord injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]