Objective To investigate the change in the expression of the Notch signaling pathway in rats with focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury during recovery. Methods Sprague-Dawley rats were used to establish a model of middle cerebral artery occlusion. The rats were divided into control group with 12 rats, acute stage group with 24 rats, and recovery stage group with 24 rats; the rats in the acute stage group were further divided into 3-day and 7-day subgroups, and those in the recovery stage group were divided into 15-day and 30-day subgroups. RT-PCR and Western blot were used to measure the changes in the mRNA and protein expression of Notch signaling molecules. Results Compared with the control group, there were significant increases in the mRNA expression of Delta-like 1, Delta-like 3, Delta-like 4, and Jagged 1 on day 3 after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (P<0.05) and significantly lower mRNA expression of these molecules on day 30 (P<0.05). On day 3 after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion, there were significant increases in the mRNA expression of Notch 1 and Notch 2; on day 30, compared with the control group, there was significantly lower mRNA expression of Notch 1 (P<0.05), Notch 2 (P<0.05), Notch 3 (P<0.05), and Notch 4 (P<0.01). Compared with the control group, there were significant increases in the expression of Hes-1 (P<0.01) and Hey-1 (P<0.05) on day 3 after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion; on day 30, there was significantly lower expression of Hes-1 and Hey-1 than the control group (P<0.05). There were significant increases in the expression of NICD1 and NICD2 in the penumbra on day 3 after focal cerebral ischemia (P<0.05) and significant reductions on day 30 (P<0.05). Conclusions The inhibition of the Notch signaling pathway during recovery of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury may help to protect the nerves.