Domestic and foreign researchers have attached great importance to the development of Chinese materia medica and much research work has been done because it owns the characteristics of complex composition，diverse effects and unclear mechanism.In recent years，the research on Chinese materia medica is an important part of the scientific study，and certain results have been achieved，but there are also some shortcomings.Based on extensive literature review，this paper summarizes the new researching progress，difficulty and focus of research，existing problems，and development direction of Chinese materia medica.