Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease （NAFLD） is currently a chronic liver disease with the highest prevalence rate in the world， with complex pathogeneses and limited clinical treatment methods. Over the past 20 years， the discovery of active components for NAFLD treatment from traditional Chinese medicine and compound prescriptions of the components that can exert a multi-target effect has been one of the research hotspots. Based on the chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine， this article elaborates on the active components with a promising future in the treatment of NAFLD， including flavonoids， phenols， terpenoids， alkaloids， and saponins， as well as the compound prescriptions of active components with a synergistic effect， in order to provide new ideas for the strategies of pharmacotherapy for NAFLD.