There are twelve compounds isolated from the ethanol extraction part of Zanthoxylum nitidum,which was traditional Chinese medicine,and the structure of these compounds were characterized through 1D,2D NMR spectrometry,mass spectrometry,as well as physicochemical properties research experiment.They were 9-demethoxynitidine (1),8-dehydroxyl-buesgenine (2),6β-hydroxymenthyldihydronitidine (3),zanthoxyline (4),rhoifoline B (5),nitidine (6),chelerythrine (7),bocconoline (8),dictamnine (9),γ-fagarine (10),skimmianine (11),liriodenine (12).Among them,compound 1 and compound 2 were found from Zanthoxylum nitidumfor the first time and never been reported.The proliferation inhibition activity of compounds 1-12 against melanoma cells WM9 was evaluated for the first time by MTT method.The results showed that compound 3 (IC₅₀=1.936 μM) and compound 6 (IC₅₀=0.880 μM) have potent anti-proliferation activity of WM9 cells.This research has provided promising candidate molecules for the discovery of anticancer drugs.