Taxol is one of the most successfully developed anticancer drugs originated from plants in the world.Its pharmacological activities and four synthesis pathways including direct extraction from Taxus spp.,total chemical synthesis,semi-chemical synthesis and biosynthesis were reviewed in this paper.Among them,the biosynthesis pathway of taxol by using tobacco chloroplast genetic engineering (TCGE) was especially highlighted based on its low cost,high quality and being sustainably obtained,which can provide the most important development value for bio-pharmaceutical industry of taxol.