The problem of bacterial resistance has brought an unprecedented challenge to human life.The common antibiotics have been gradually weakened or even become ineffective in the treatment of drug-resistant bacteria.The development of new antibiotics is costly,time-consuming,and difficult.Antimicrobial agents based on plant active ingredients such as alkaloids,polyphenols,terpenoids, lectins,saponins,glucosinolates and other compounds not only have great potential in antibacterial activity,but also play a synergistic antibacterial role with antibiotics in various ways.In this paper,we summarizes the research status of bacterial resistance,the effect of plant active ingredients on drug-resistant bacteria and the mechanism of synergistic antibacterial action with antibiotics,which could restore or enhance the sensitivity of drug-resistant bacteria to existing antibiotics,and provide theoretical basis for the application of plant active ingredients in the field of counteracting bacterial resistance.