Atherosclerosis is one of the main reasons of cardiovascular diseases, the most common cause of death in the world. NRF2 is a critical transcriptional factor that regulates oxidative stress response and contributes to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. This study aims to compare the expression levels of miR-34a, miR-125b, miR- 221 and NRF2 in blood samples of patients with atherosclerosis and of controls to find a novel link between microRNAs, oxidative stress and atherosclerosis. miR-34a, miR-125b, miR-221 and NRF2 relative expressions were analysed in 26 atherosclerosis patients and 25 healthy controls by q-RT-PCR assay. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to assess the diagnostic values of miR-34a, miR-125b, miR-221 and NRF2 by comparing the area under the curves (AUC) to differentiate between atherosclerosis and control samples. miR-34a and NRF2 were significantly upregulated, whereas miR-125b and miR-221 were significantly downregulated in patients compared with healthy controls. The ROC curves suggested high diagnostic value of miR-221 (AUC: 0.7477), miR-125b (AUC: 0.8523) and NRF2 (AUC: 0.838) for detection of atherosclerosis. Our results suggest that circulating miR-34a, miR-125b and miR-221 levels can be used as novel biomarkers for detection of atherosclerosis by targeting NRF2.