Myocardial infarction is the main cause of heart failure, causing the loss of myocardial cells, and then declining the cardiac function. Bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are stem cells with capacity for self-renewal and potential to differentiate into a broad tissue distribution. BM-MSCs after transplantation can survive in the myocardium and then improve cardiac function through paracrine and other mechanisms. The cell transplantation provides a new approach for treatment of myocardial infarction and has great application potential. In this paper, we reviewed the current understanding of BM-MSCs isolation, induction, transplantation and recent clinical research on the therapy for cardiac diseases.