Geniposide and genipin are the main components of the first batch of medicinal and edible medicinal herb gardenia in China，which have extensive pharmacological activity and clinical application value.No serious adverse events have been reported in long-term clinical application.Recently，however，animal experiments and cell experiments have reported that geniposide has dose-dependent hepatotoxicity，and the toxicity of its derivative ginipin is worse than that of geniposide.In this paper，we will review the structure of geniposide and genipin，their metabolism，liver toxicity effects in animal experiments.Geniposide and Genipin can through selectively restrain CYP450 enzyme system，induce oxidative damage and hepatocyte apoptosis，effect the bilirubin metabolism，bile acid synthesis and transportation so as to causing liver damage，and we also put forward some problems such as whether exists different toxic reaction between people and animals，in order to draw clinical attention to the safety evaluation of gardenia，and promote further in-depth study.