Abstract: The volatile oil was extracted from turmeric using steam distillation. More than fifty kinds of peaks were separated, and 43 species of compounds were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The relative contents of these compounds were calculated using square peaks to normalization. Among the 43 species of identified compounds, there are 23 kinds of hydrocarbon compounds which are mainly β-curcumene(11.48%) and β-sesquiphellandrene(9.52%), and 18 species of oxygenated hydrocarbon derivatives which are mainly L-carveol(20.63%), 6,6-dimethy-l-(21.85%)-bicyclo3,1,1hept-2-ene-ethanol, 4-cyano-2,2-dimethyl-1-methylene-cyclopentane(11 68%).