Abstract: OBJECTIVE To review the research progress of botanical sunscreens and offer some information for the exploitation for some/a new sunscreen. METHODS Recent research literatures on botanical sunscreen were searched. Then both chemical ingredients and mechanisms were analyzed. RESULTS Chemical ingredients of botanical sunscreen are flavonoids, anthraquinone and plant polyphenols. Meanwhile, the single botanical sunscreen had been reported most frequently while the combination one was rare. CONCLUSION Single herb plants do usually have strong absorption in a specific ultraviolet region, and a new, safe sunscreen in full-band and high-absorption shall be the next target.