Objective To study the clinical effects of the Tanreqing injection combined with Danshen-Chuanxiongqin injection for the patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) and its effects on plasma NO and endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels. Methods A total of 79 patients with AECOPD in our hospital from May 2014 to January 2017 were enrolled in this study. The subjects were randomly divided into the control group (n=39) and the combined therapy group (n=40). The control group were treated with Tanreqing injection, the combined therapy group were treated with Tanreqing injection combined with Danshen-Chuanxiongqin injection.The two groups were treated for 10 days.The clinical effects of the two groups after treatment were compared. The MPAP, PASP, PADP, PaO2, PaCO2, SaO2, NO and ET-1 of the two groups before and after treatment were compared. Results The total efficacy rate of the combined therapy group was 97.5% (39/40), which was significantly higher than 82.1% (32/39) of the control group (x2=5.178,P=0.023).After treatment,the MPAP(25.19 ± 8.71 mmHg vs.35.28 ± 9.52 mmHg,t=4.917),PASP (44.35 ± 12.26 mmHg vs.57.24 ± 11.17 mmHg,t=4.881),PADP(17.16 ± 4.05 mmHg vs.26.40 ± 3.85 mmHg, t=10.38),PaCO2(42.70 ± 6.31 mmHg vs. 51.44 ± 6.83 mmHg, t=5.910)of the combined therapy group were significantly lower than those of the control group(P<0.05).After treatment,the PaO2(73.95 ± 7.82 mmHg vs. 67.21 ± 7.16 mmHg,t=3.993),SaO2(94.86% ± 5.11% vs.83.63% ± 4.27%,t=10.586)of the combined therapy group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, the plasma NO (55.82 ± 10.08 μmol/L vs.46.34 ± 8.50 μmol/L,t=4.513)of the combined therapy groupwas significantly higher than the control group(P<0.05)and the plasma ET-1(80.41 ± 8.95 ng/L vs.87.68 ± 9.24 ng/L,t=3.552)of the combined therapy groupwere significantly lower than the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions The Tanreqing injection combined with Danshen-Chuanxiongqin injection showed good efficacy for the patients with AECOPD,and the therapy can reduce the pulmonary arterial hypertension and ET-1, improve the lung tissue oxygen supply and NO release, and improve the cardiopulmonary function.