Abstract Glomerulonephritis is an important cause of renal failure thought to be caused by autoimmune damage to the kidney. While each type of glomerulonephritis begins with a unique initiating stimulus, subsequent common inflammatory and fibrotic events lead to a final pathway of progressive renal damage. In this article the different forms of inflammatory glomerulonephritis and their diagnosis are discussed. In a review of therapy both immediate life saving treatment given when glomerulonephritis causes acute renal failure and more specific treatments designed to modify the underlying mechanisms of renal injury are considered.