Objective To evaluate the levels of neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL) in prediction of acute kidney injury (AKI) in children with burn. Methods Forty seven children with burn were selected in this study and thirty healthy children were enrolled as a control group. Levels of blood routine, urine routine, serum creatinine (Scr), serum NGAL (SNGAL), urine NGAL (UNGAL), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used to estimate the AKI diagnostic value of serum NGAL, urine NGAL and Scr. Results On the day of admission, serum NGAL and urine NGAL were significantly increased in patients with AKI , while Scr did not change significantly as compared with those in non-AKI patients and the healthy controls. In AKI group, serum NGAL and urine NGAL were positively correlated with WBC and CRP on the day of admission , and positively related with Scr on the seventh day. ROC analysis showed the AUC of serum NGAL, urine NGAL and Scr on admission were 0.737(95%CI: 0.653 ~ 0.779, P < 0.05), 0.772(95%CI: 0.632 ~ 0.793, P < 0.05), and 0.508(95%CI: 0.454~0.618, P < 0.05) respectively. The cut-off value of serum NGAL and urine NGAL were 318 μg/L (sensitivity of 72.8% and specificity of 81.6%) and 105 μg/L (sensitivity of 75.6% and specificity of 83.7%). Conclusions Elevation in levels of serum NGAL and urine NGAL occurs earlier than that in Scr level in children with burn. Both serum and urine NGAL level can be used as a biomarker for early prediction of AKI.