Limbic encephalitis refers to inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system that involve structures of the limbic system (e.g., hippocampus, amygdala, insula, and cingulate cortex) and manifest clinically as near-memory impairment, psychiatric abnormalities, and often epileptic seizures. The etiology is divided into infectious, autoimmune, and autoimmune diseases accompanied by limbic encephalitis. Clinically, if the disease is suspected, it is likely to be combined with some other potentially malignant lesion. The diagnosis of limbic encephalitis is mainly clarified by clinical manifestations, head MRI, EEG and cerebrospinal fluid examination findings. Paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis is often mentioned and usually occurs in patients with small cell lung cancer, in addition to colon cancer, thymoma, teratoma, and breast cancer. Patients with limbic lobe encephalitis are often found to have psychiatric symptoms based on the primary tumor lesion; therefore, timely and necessary administration of a systematic examination can be helpful in detecting the tumor lesion. Imaging occupies a very important position in the clinical diagnosis of the disease. Typical clinical manifestations combined with imaging can give a clear diagnosis, and brain tissue biopsy is generally not required. Patients should be aware of the occurrence of the disease if they have clinical symptoms such as seizures, recent memory loss, and mental abnormalities, and if the cerebrospinal fluid is found to have non-infectious changes on cranial MRI. No targeted treatment basis has been found for this disease, and most views are that it can be controlled in the early stage of onset, and can be treated by immunomodulation (e.g., intravenous immunoglobulin, plasma exchange) and immunosuppressive agents when the tumor findings are not yet clear. Timely and clear diagnosis and targeted treatment can promote improved prognosis of patients.