Abstract: On the basis of reviewing the historical source of external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine, the development status of modern external treatment method is sorted out from theoretical, technical and clinical aspects, which is mainly reflected in the proposal of new theories, the improvement of dosage forms and application methods of external Chinese medicine, the innovation of external treatment equipment and the broadening of the scope of application of clinical "external treatment of internal diseases", and puts forward thoughts on the current problems in this field of research, and looks forward to future research trends.