Objective： To compare the effect of steam distillation （SD） and water extraction coupling rectification （WER） on the extraction of volatile oil from Artemisiae Argyi Folium.,Methods,2,The volatile oil from Artemisiae Argyi Folium was extracted by SD and WER methods， respectively， and the yield of volatile oil was calculated. The components of volatile oil were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry （GC-MS）. The components and contents of the volatile oil from Artemisiae Argyi Folium extracted by these two methods were compared.,Results,2,① The yield of volatile oil extracted by SD method was 0.502 ml/100 g， and that extracted by WER method was 0.596 ml/100 g. The yield of volatile oil extracted by WER method was significantly better than that extracted by SD method. ②A total of 42 components were isolated from the volatile oil of Artemisiae Argyi Folium extracted by SD method， among， cineole， β-caryophyllene and α-terpineol accounted for 10.80%， 5.73% and 3.18% of the total volatile oil respectively. A total of 28 components were isolated from the volatile oil of Artemisiae Argyi Folium extracted by WER method， and cineole， β-caryophyllene and α-terpineol accounted for 19.15%， 8.51% and 4.61% of the total volatile oil respectively， which suggested that the contents of main active components were higher than those by SD method.,Conclusion,2,Compared with SD method， WER method shows higher yield and effective component contents and better appearance， which is more conducive to the extraction of volatile oil from Artemisiae Argyi Folium.