OBJECTIVE To study the contents of the effective conponent-ferulic acid in Shenghuatang and in other decotions composed of one or more ingredients of Shenghuatang.METHODS The contents of ferulic and were determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.RESULTS The freulic acid contents in the decoction of angelica sinensis and the decoction of ligusticum chuanxiong were 56.88±0.11 μg·g^-1 and 36.2±4.0 μg·g-1, respectively; they varied from 1.71 mg·g-1 to 56.88 μg·g^-1 among Shenghua Tang and the decoctions composed of two or three ingredients.CONCLUSIONS The content of ferulic acid in the decoction composed of angelica sinensis and ligusticum chuanxiong was the sum of that in the decoction of either of them; the contents of that decreased in the decoctions combined with semen persicae、Radix glycyrrhizae、Rhizoma zingiberis;the content of ferulic acid in Shenghuatang appeared to be the highest among all the relative decoctions.