Abstract: OBJECTIVE To explore the thinking of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) clinical prescription review by referring to the TCM thinking in ancient books. METHODS By reading a large number of ancient books of TCM, effective articles and thinking about prescription composition in ancient books were extracted to guide the work of TCM clinical prescription review. RESULTS Starting from the nature of TCM, the theory of drug pair, the principle of monarch-minister- assistant prescription, the indications of TCM, the contraindication of TCM, and the dosage of TCM, the rationality of TCM clinical prescription was reviewed from the local to the whole by adopting a new thinking, so as to eliminate the phenomenon of irrational drug use from the source. CONCLUSION It provides a new thinking for the review of TCM clinical prescription, further perfects the work of TCM prescription review, and provides evidence for judging clinical efficacy and effective advice for avoiding adverse reactions.