Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) was used for extraction of effective components of sarcandra glabra (Thunb.), and then chromatographic fingerprint of sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) was studied by high performance liquid chromatography/diode array detector (HPLC/DAD). The conditions of MAE were optimized by an orthogonal experiment, and then the authentication and validation of the chromatographic fingerprint were conducted. Nine peaks were identified as common peaks in the fingerprint chromatograms, and isofraxidin was considered as a reference compound and quantified. Relative standard deviations of retention time and peak area of each component were less than 3% and 8%, respectively. Similarity and difference analysis were conducted by use of PCA and relation coefficient. Twenty batches of sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) samples from two different producing areas could be classified into two different groups in the PCA model. The results showed that MAE-HPLC/DAD method was simple, efficient and stable for the study of complex chromatographic fingerprint of sarcandra glabra (Thunb.), which could provide more reliable and precise information for quality evaluation.