Abiotic stress caused by environmental conditions such as drought, increased salinity, extreme temperatures or intense UV radiation has a negative impact on plant growth and development. Numerous abiotic stress response mechanisms, including regulation of gene expression mediated by miRNA molecules, enable plants to overcome adverse environmental conditions. Micro RNA (miRNA) molecules are small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression mainly at the post-transcriptional level. Biosynthesis of miRNA molecules involves transcription of MIR genes, processing of miRNA precursor molecules into mature miRNA molecules by the enzyme DCL1 and loading of the mature miRNAs into AGO proteins to form the miRNA-induced silencing complex (miRISC). Based on complementarity with the target sequence, the miRISC silences the expression of target genes by cleaving or inhibiting the translation of transcripts. miRNA molecules play an important regulatory roles in plant development and plant - environment interactions, including developmental plasticity, abiotic and biotic stress responses and interactions with symbionts and parasites. Stress-induced miRNA molecules downregulate the expression of negative regulators of stress tolerance, while stress-inhibited miRNA molecules enable the accumulation of positive regulators. This paper describes the significance of miRNA molecules associated with oxidative, heat, osmotic and light stress and water deficiency.