Abstract: Chinese medicine processing is a kind of traditional pharmaceutical technology， which can reduce toxicity， enhance the curative effect， change the properties and facilitate dispensing preparations in clinical use. The technology of detoxification is a great pioneering work for the safe application of toxic Chinese medicine， which can reduce the side effects of certain drugs， ensure the clinical safe use and expand the scope of clinical application through processing. In this paper， we searched the toxic Chinese medicine and the processing technology in ancient literatures of TCM， and then we summarized and analyzed their latest studies at home and abroad. Thus， we make a summary of toxic Chinese medicine including its classification， site of action， the toxic components， detoxification and its clinical application. Meanwhile， we proposed an opinion that toxic Chinese medicines with the same processing technology had common detoxification rules. Therefore， we hope this work will provide new perspectives for the research on the processing of toxic Chinese medicine and the mechanism of detoxification.