Chronic atrophic gastritis(CAG) is a common chronic disease of digestive system，which is considered as the precancerous lesion of gastric cancer and seriously endangers human health.How to effectively promote the repair of gastric mucosa，inhibit gland atrophy and block carcinogenesis is a hot topic in clinical research.At present，western medicine still lacks specific treatment means.In recent years，a large amount of research reveal that external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine has achieved remarkable results in the treatment of CAG，with the advantages of simplicity，convenience，efficiency and low cost，which is favored by patients.This paper reviewed and summarized relevant literature on external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine for CAG，including acupuncture，moxibustion，application therapy，and other commonly used methods，to provide reference for the clinical treatment of CAG.