BACKGROUND:Knee osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease caused by multiple factors.Its pathogenesis is complex and still unclear.Chinese medicine in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis is fruitful,and in-depth study of Chinese medicine in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis is of great significance. OBJECTIVE:To review the progress of Chinese medicine monomers and compounds in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis and to provide ideas and reference for the effective prevention and treatment of knee osteoarthritis. METHODS:CNKI,WanFang,VIP,PubMed,MEDLINE,Nature,and Cochrane databases were retrieved for relevant literature published from database inception to 2022.The keywords were"knee osteoarthritis,cartilage damage,traditional Chinese medicine,Chinese herbal compound,treatment"in Chinese and English.Duplicates and obsolete non-referenced literature were excluded,and a total of 62 standard papers were included for further review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Some of the pathogeneses of knee osteoarthritis include immune inflammatory response,chondrocyte autophagy and apoptosis,vascular endothelial growth factor level and biomechanical imbalance.The mechanisms by which traditional Chinese medicine treats knee osteoarthritis mainly focus on regulating inflammatory factor levels,chondrocyte autophagy and apoptosis,and vascular endothelial growth factor level and improving cartilage performance,so as to delay the occurrence and development of knee osteoarthritis.