To explore the molecular mechanism of quartz dust in the atmospheric particulates exacerbating respiratory inflammatory response, the authors used XRD to analyze the phase of quartz dust, and utilized bronchial epithelial cells as the target. After the cells were treated by quartz dust for 24 h, CCK-8 was used to detect cell viability and the concentration of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 in the culture supernatant was detected by ELISA. Western Blot was used to detect the expression of TLR4. The levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TLR4 were detected after being pretreated with Toll like receptor 4 specific inhibitor TAK 242. According to the results, the main phase of quartz dust was quartz, including partial calcite; the relative cell survival ratio decreased with the increase of quartz dust concentration; the concentration of IL-6 and IL-8 in the supernatant of the 100 μg/mL group was significantly increased compared with the control group (P<0.01); high levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in the 50, 75, and 100 μg/mL groups were antagonized by TAK 242; after being pretreated with TAK 242, IL-6 and IL-8 were significantly reduced in the 100 μg/mL group (P<0.01); the expression of TLR4 increased with the increase of quartz dust concentration, and the intervention of TAK 242 could effectively prevent the activation of TLR4 pathway. In summary, it can be concluded that exposure to quartz dust can stimulate the secretion of high concentrations of inflammatory factors in bronchial epithelial cells, and the mechanism may be the activation of TLR4 signaling pathway.