To explore the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine on the levels of serum IL-1β，MMP-3 and TNF-α in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation.Methods:A total of 103 cases with lumbar disc herniation who were admitted and treated in our hospital from March 2015 to June 2016 were selected and divided into control group (n=52) and observation group (n=52).The patients of control group were treated with Tongluo Yishen formula，and the patients of observation group were treated with acupuncture based on the conventional treatment.The 2 groups were treated continuously for 4 weeks.The efficacy of 2 groups were recorded and the MPQ scores，ODI and lumbar function scores were compared; the inflammatory factors levels were determined before and after treatment of 2 groups.Results:The clinical total effective rate of the patients in the observation group was 92.31%，which was higher than that 76.47% of control group (P<0.05); Compared with before treatment，the VAS scores，feeling and emotion PRI scores，ODI and the levels of serum IL-1β，MMP-3 and TNF-α decreased significantly，and those in observation group were lower than that in control group (P<0.01); besides that，the lumbar function scores increased significantly in 2 groups，and that in observation group was higher than that in control group (P<0.01).Conclusion:Acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine can reduce the levels of serum IL-1β，MMP-3 and TNF-α，and restrain the inflammation and intervertebral disc degeneration，and reduce the pain and promote the lumbar functional recovery.The efficacy is significantly better than Chinese herbal medicine treatment alone.