Cisplatin treatment in patients with solid tumor is common, but a major factor limiting its use is nephrotoxic effects. Thus, this study was performed to investigate the effects of rutin on oxidative stress, apoptotic protein caspase-3 and anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-3 levels in nephrotoxicity caused by cisplatin in rats. The rats were randomly separated into three groups (7 rats in each group). Group I was treated with physiological saline. Group II was treated with cisplatin intraperitoneally on the tenth day of the study. Group III was treated with rutin 150 mg/kg orally for 14 days plus cisplatin 10 mg/kg intraperitoneally on the tenth day of the study. The kidneys and blood samples were collected for the measurement of urea, creatinine, malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), caspase-3 and B-cell lymphoma protein 3 (Bcl-3) levels. Single dose cisplatin treatment in the rats caused the kidney injury. Rutin alleviated nephrotoxicity by significantly increasing antioxidant activity, and decreasing MDA, caspase-3 and Bcl-3 levels (P<0.001). The present study suggested that rutin could decrease oxidative stress by enhancing antioxidant activity and nephrotoxicity caused by cisplatin by decreasing apoptotic pathways.