AIM: This study was conducted to determine the level of ethical awareness and opinions of nursing students about importance of professional values and to investigate the relationship between them. METHODS: The universe of this descriptive study consisted of the first, second, third, and fourth grade students (N=512) who were educating in the Nursing Department of Health Sciences Faculty of a state university. Students (n=334) who voluntarily accepted to participate constituted the sample of the study. Data were collected with a questionnaire form consisting of questions about the socio-demographic characteristics of the students and their perceptions of the importance of professional values and the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean age of the students was 20.5±1.57 years, and 34.7% of them were the first grade students. 69.8% of the students voluntarily selected the profession, and 54.5% of them faced ethical dilemmas during clinical practice. The total score of the moral sensitivity questionnaire was 76±16.05 and there was a statistically significant difference between gender and grades of the students (p<0.05). The first three professional values that students consider to be extremely important were honesty (58.4%), equality (57.5%) and freedom (53.6%). There was a statistically significant difference between the importance that they attached to the esthetic value and moral sensitivity scale scores of students (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Nursing students are highly aware of ethical principles, and they they gave a high degree of importance to professional values such as honesty, equality and freedom.