To review the reports concering the mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine in treating depression in recent years and combine research achievements of the authors, we summarized the research progress on therapeutic mechanism of depression treated by traditional Chinese medicine. Previous researches proved that traditional Chinese medicine played antidepressant role by affecting the monoamine neurotransmitters, excitotoxicity, Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal axis, hippocampal neurons and neurotrophic factor et al. It has suggested that depression treated by traditional Chinese medicine is through a lot of channels, target spots and levels.