Inflammatory response has an important role in the outcome of cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (CIR). Biliverdin (BV) administration can relieve CIR in rats, but the mechanism remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to explore the expressional network of microRNA (miRNA)‑mRNA in CIR rats following BV administration. A rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model with BV treatment was established. After neurobehavior was evaluated by neurological severity scores (NSS), miRNA and mRNA expressional profiles were analyzed by microarray technology from the cerebral cortex subjected to ischemia and BV administration. Then, bioinformatics prediction was used to screen the correlation between miRNA and mRNA, and 20 candidate miRNAs and 33 candidate mRNAs were verified by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, the regulation relationship between ETS proto‑oncogene 1 (Ets1) and miRNA204‑5p was examined by luciferase assay. A total of 86 miRNAs were differentially expressed in the BV group compared with the other groups. A total of 10 miRNAs and 26 candidate genes were identified as a core 'microRNA‑mRNA' regulatory network that was linked with the functional improvement of BV administration in CIR rats. Lastly, the luciferase assay results confirmed that miRNA204‑5p directly targeted Ets1. The present findings suggest that BV administration may regulate multiple miRNAs and mRNAs to improve neurobehavior in CIR rats, by influencing cell proliferation, apoptosis, maintaining ATP homeostasis, and angiogenesis.