Abstract: Listeria monocytogenes is an important food-borne pathogen which can cause severe communicable diseases in humans and animals. L. monocytogenes has evolved multiple mechanisms to escape from the host innate immune response, and then to invade and replicate in the cytoplasm of the host. Based on the recent research on the pathogenic mechanism of L. monocytogenes, this paper summaries the molecular characteristics and the pathogenic roles of the pathogenic related virulence determinants.