This paper proves a general sampling theorem, which is an extension of Shannon's classical theorem. Let o be a closed subspace of square integrable functions and call o a signal space. The main aim of this paper is giving a necessary and sufficient condition for unique existence of the sampling basis {Sn}o without band-limited assumption. Using the general sampling theorem we rigorously discuss a frequency domain treatment and a general signal space spanned by translations of a single function. Many known sampling theorems in signal spaces, which have applications for multiresolution analysis in wavelets theory are corollaries of the general sampling theorem.