Objective To raise ginsenosides yield from Panax ginseng by supercritical CO2 reverse microemulsion extraction.Methods Bis-(2-ethylhexyl)sodium sulphosuccinate(AOT)/ethanol/water/supercritical CO2 reverse microemulsion extraction was carried out to extract gingsenosides.Results The ginsenosides extracting rate by supercritical CO2 reverse microemulsion extraction was 3.2 times that of by ethanol/water/supercritical CO2 extraction in extracting pressure 25 MPa,extracting temperature 45 ℃,extracting time 4 h,and CO2 flow rate 2.0 L/h,respectively.The ginsenosides extracting yield increased with the increasing of the water amount and the extracting pressure,increased first and then decreased with the increasing of AOT concentration and the extracting temperature.The ginsenosides extracting yield with P.ginseng soaked with water before extraction was 1.3 times that with P.ginseng soaked with water during the extraction.Conclusion Combined the experimental results with the theoretic deduction,the mechanism of supercritical CO2 reverse microemulsion extraction is that the polar water pools of reverse microemulsion can make more ginsenosides dissolved.