Ilya Sherebetovich Anisimov (Russian: Илья Шеребетович Анисимов; Judeo-Tat: Элиягу бен Шербет Нисим-оглы; Hebrew: איליה אניסימוב; 29 May 1862 – 3 February 1928) was a Russian ethnographer, ethnologist, and engineer, known for his ethnographic study on Mountain Jews. He was the first person of Mountain Jewish descent to receive higher education in the schools of the Russian Empire. Anisimov is the author of the famous work "Caucasian Mountain Jews" (Russian: Кавказские евреи-горцы). He was also a member of the Baku branch of the Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia.

Ilya Anisimov was born in the village of Tarki in the Temir-Khan-Shurinskiy district of the Dagestan Oblast. He was the second of five sons in his family.

According to Anisimov’s eldest daughter, Gul-Bike, he received the name Eliyahu (Ilya) in honor of the first rabbi of Derbent, Eliyahu ben Mushael (1781–1848), who was respected by all Mountain Jews. This rabbi founded the chief rabbinate of Mountain Jews in the city and made Derbent their spiritual capital.

His father, Sherebet Nisim-ogly, studied at the Volozhin Yeshiva and was known as one of the most educated rabbis of his time.

After studying at the Volozhin Yeshiva, Sherebet Nisim-ogly spent three years in Jerusalem. In 1884, he published the book "Antiquities of the Mountain Jews" (Russian: Древности горских евреев). In 1906, he returned to Dagestan, became the first rabbi in Tarki, where he opened a Jewish school, and later in Temir-Khan-Shurá.

Having received a good home education thanks to his father, Anisimov was accepted directly into the sixth grade of the government city school (real school) in Temir-Khan-Shurá in September 1882.

In 1883, Anisimov entered the mountain department of the Stavropol gymnasium, where he completed a year of study. The certificate he received upon graduation from the gymnasium on 16 June 1884, confirmed that he had the right "to enter higher specialized schools, undergoing only a verification test." Anisimov had to work hard to study: his parents and relatives considered education unnecessary and, according to custom, wanted to marry him early to a girl to whom he had been engaged when he was only three years old. Thanks to the support of the school authorities (Anisimov studied at the state’s expense and received a scholarship from the Military-People’s Administration of the Caucasus Region), Anisimov managed to convince his parents that the authorities demanded he be sent to a gymnasium.

After graduating from the gymnasium in the summer of 1884, Anisimov left for Saint Petersburg.