Abstract: Background The pathogenesis of hypertensisve renal damage is complicated. It has been shown that toll-like receptor 4 （TLR4） and tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α） may correlate to the correlated and development of essential hypertension,whereas,there is a paucity of information on the relationship between their changes and hypertensive renal damage. Objective To investigate the associasion between TLR4,TNF-α concentration and renal damage induced by essential hypertension. Methods According to the patients’s 24 h urine protein test results,103 cases of patients with essential hypertension were divided into two groups:simple hypertension group （n=60） and hypertensive renal damage group （n=43）. The levels of TLR4 on peripheral blood mononuclear cell surface and TNF-α in serum were detected flow cytometry and ELISA assay respectively. 45 cases of healthy individuals served as normal control group during the same period. Results In normal control group,simple hypertension group and hypertensive renal damage group,the positive rate of TLR4 were （37.8±15.9）%,（45.9±14.0）% and （54.8±20.7）% respectively;and the TNF-α were （68.0±17.7）,（166.9±48.2） and （220.3±74.3）μg/L respectively. The concentration of TLR4 and TNF-α rised significantly in the order of normal control group,simple hypertension group and hypertensive renal damage in turn. TLR4 and TNF-α levels were positively related to the 24 h urine protein test results characterized by correlation analysis. Conclusion The TLR4 and the TNF-α were significantly increased in the hypertensive patients with renal damage,and they may be positively correlated with the degree of renal damage induced by essential hypertension,but the causal relationship was unknown.