Objective To establish a proper extraction method for Yangxue Ruanjian Prescription (YRP) by comparing the chemical component contents and analgesic and anti - inflammatory effect of extracts extracted from YRP by different methods. Methods Water - decocting, alcohol - refluxing and alcohol - percolating methods were adopted and component indexes of paeoniflorin and gentiopicrin were determined by HPLC. The anti - inflammatory effect of the extracts were observed on mice with xylol - induced auricular swelling and analgesic effect by hot - plate method. Results The content of gentiopicrin is similar in the extracts extracted by three methods and the content of paeoniflorin is higher in alcohol - percolating extract than in alcohol - refluxing extract, lowest in water - extraction. The analgesic effect of water - decocting extract is better than that of alcohol - refluxing extract, and that of alcohol - percolating extract is weakest; the anti - inflammatory effect of the three extracts is almost the same. Conclusion Water - decocting extraction is suitable to YRP, and this is determined by the characteristics of Chinese compound prescription.