Based on data mining, to summarize clinical medication experience and rules of a famous practitioner in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), Professor LI Shunmin, in diagnosis and treatment of chronic renal failure(CRF).Methods:Clinical prescriptions of Professor LI Shunmin for the diagnosis and treatment of CRF in the hospital in recent 5 years were collected.And the medication was summarized and analyzed.Results:There were 249 kinds of Chinese materia medica in the treatment of CRF by Professor LI Shunmin, but only 9 kinds were used more than 50% frequency, such as Radix Astragali seu Hedysari(97%), Radix et Rhizoma Rhei(94%), Radix Glycyrrhizae(91%), Rhizoma Dioscoreae(86%)and Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae(71%).Analysis on compatibility of medication showed that the total number of medicine pairs was 3 946, of which 27 were used more than 50% frequency.They were Radix Astragali seu Hedysari with Radix Glycyrrhizae(87%), Radix Astragali seu Hedysari with Rhizoma Dioscoreae(85%), Radix Astragali seu Hedysari with Radix et Rhizoma Rhei(83%), etc.The total number of formulas used was 539 after checking with the lexicon of formulas.Among them, Jianpi Yishen Formula, also called Lishunmin Jingyan Formula, was the most frequently used, with the frequency of 88%.On properties, flavors and channel tropism of Chinese materia medica, warm medicine was the most frequently used in the treatment of CRF by Professor LI Shunmin.Next were neutral medicine and cold medicine, and hot medicine was used rarely.The most frequently used flavor was sweet, and bitter medicine and acrid medicine followed.Medicine of spleen channel was used the most frequently, followed by medicine of lung, kidney, liver and large intestine channels.Conclusion:Professor LI Shunmin often prescribes medicines with functions of tonfying and benefiting spleen and kidney, regulating yin and yang, purgation, activating blood, releasing exterior and securing essence in the treatment of CRF, such as Radix Astragali seu Hedysari, Radix et Rhizoma Rhei, Radix Glycyrrhizae, Rhizoma Dioscoreae and Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae.Data mining is an effective tool to sort out the experience of famous TCM practitioners.