All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is the active metabolites of vitamin A; it has antioxidant effects, and can regulate apoptosis. This study aims to observe the effects of ATRA on cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury, where a total of 96 Sprague-Dawley rats (180–220 g) were divided into four groups; (24 rats in each); normal group, DMSO group, cisplatin group, and cisplatin with retinoic acid group. Eight rats were sacrificed on days 3, 7, and 11 in each group. Serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen and MAU levels were assayed, the activities of Catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were tested in kidney tissue, expressions of nuclear factor- kB (NF- kB), Caspase-3, and TGFβ1 were determined by real time PCR, also Histopathological changes in kidney tissue were determined. Our study found that the levels of serum creatinine, BUN, MAU, and MDA in cisplatin group were significantly increased, while the activities of CAT and GSH were significantly decreased, as well as, the expression levels of caspase-3, NF-kB, and TGFβ1 were significantly increased in cisplatin group. In contrast, ATRA group showed lower levels of serum creatinine, BUN, MAU and MDA (p < 0.05), and increased levels of CAT and GSH (p < 0.05), which reached the highest levels at day 11, also the expression levels of caspase-3, NF-kB and TGFβ1 decreased significantly in ATRA group (P< 0.05). Our study concluded that, ATRA has a protective effect on cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury in rats, and it is associated with inhibition of lipid peroxidation, lower inflammation and lower apoptosis.