Abstract: More than 60 chemical compositions were extracted from epicarp of Carya cathayensis so far, among them, over 20 had potential fordifferent applications. Effective bioactive constituents were mainly alkaloids, anthraquinones, flavonoids, phenolics and acids, and could be appliedfor antibacterial, antioxidant, analgesia, anti-tumor and dyeing etc. Further studies were advices to extract methods, experiments on effectiveconstituents for anti-tumor and pharmacologic action.