Acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by severe lung edema and an increase in the inflammatory reaction. Considerable evidence has indicated that microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are involved in various human diseases; however, the expression profile and function of miRNAs in ALI have been rarely reported. The present study used miRNA microarray and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction to demonstrate that miR-181b is the one of the most significantly upregulated miRNA after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation in human bronchial epithelial cells, BEAS-2B. To elaborate the role of miR-181b in ALI, an assay was performed to investigate the overexpression of miR-181b in BEAS-2B cells, and the expression of inflammatory factors was then analyzed. The overexpression of miR-181b resulted in the induction of an increment in interleukin (IL)-6 levels. p65 was identified to be a primary component of NF-κB, since it was upregulated in the miR-181b overexpression in the BEAS-2B cells, while pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, a specific inhibitor of NF-κB, was found to be able to abrogate the upregulation of the expression of p65. In conclusion, the findings of the present study suggested that miR-181b may be involved in the process of LPS-induced inflammation in BEAS-2B cells by activating the NF-κB signaling pathway, which implies that it may serve as a potential therapeutic target for ALI.