The volatile oils from Houttuynia cordata Thunb. were obtained with supercritical CO₂, steam distillation and petroleum ether extraction and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by GC-MS. The results showed that the chemical constituents of the volatile oils by three different methods are very different. The extraction rates of volatile oil by above-mentioned three extraction methods are 1. 764%, 0. 040% and 0. 082%, respectively. The volatile oil extracted by supercritical CO₂ extraction, which the content of houttuyninum reached 14. 393%, is better than those with traditional methods.