Objective To investigate the secondary metabolites of the South China Sea spine body sponge Acanthella cavernosa.Methods The acetone extract of A.cavernosa was isolated and purified by repeated column chromatography on sili-ca gel,sephadex LH-20,and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).Structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis and comparison with reported data.Results Nine compounds were isolated.Their structures were determined as kali-hinol E (1),kalihinol A (2),10-epi-kalihinol X (3),10-epi-kalihinol I (4),1 H-indole-3-carboxylic acid methyl ester (5), 1H-indole-3-carboxylic acid (6),3-buten-2-one,4-(2,3,6-trimethylphenyl)-(3E)(7),aristolone (8),and 5α,8α-epidioxy-(22E,24R)-erost-6,22-dien-3β-ol (9).Conclusion Compounds 5 to 8 were isolated from the sponge of genus Acanthalla for the first time.