Pneumonia is a lower respiratory tract infection that causes dramatic mortality worldwide. The present study aimed to investigate the pathogenesis of pneumonia and identify microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers as candidates for targeted therapy. RNA from the peripheral blood plasma of participants with pneumonia (severe, n=9; non-severe, n=9) and controls (n=9) was isolated and paired-end sequencing was performed on an Illumina HiSeq4000 system. Following the processing of raw reads, the sequences were aligned against the Genome Reference Consortium human genome assembly 38 reference genome using Bowtie2 software. Reads per kilobase of transcript per million mapped read values were obtained and the limma software package was used to identify differentially expressed miRNAs (DE-miRs). Then, DE-miR targets were predicted and subjected to enrichment analysis. In addition, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the predicted targets was constructed. This analysis identified 11 key DE-miRs in pneumonia samples, including 6 upregulated miRNAs (including hsa-miR-34a and hsa-miR-455) and 5 downregulated miRNAs (including hsa-let-7f-1). All DE-miRs kept their upregulation/downregulation pattern in the control, non-severe pneumonia and severe pneumonia samples. Predicted target genes of DE-miRs in the subjects with non-severe pneumonia vs. the control and the subjects with severe pneumonia vs. the non-severe pneumonia group were markedly enriched in the adherens junction and Wnt signaling pathways. KALRN, Ras homolog family member A (RHOA), -catenin (CTNNB1), RNA polymerase II subunit K (POLR2K) and amyloid precursor protein (APP) were determined to encode crucial proteins in the PPI network constructed. KALRN was predicted to be a target of hsa-mir-200b, while RHOA, CTNNB1, POLR2K and APP were predicted targets of hsa-let-7f-1. The results of the present study demonstrated that hsa-let-7f-1 may serve a role in the development of cancer and the Notch signaling pathway. Conversely, hsa-miR-455 may be an inhibitor of pneumonia pathogenesis. Furthermore, hsa-miR-200b might promote pneumonia via targeting KALRN.