Silybin is a flavonoid that can be commonly found in a diversity of plants.The purification and preparation of silybin has been being optimized by the natural product researchers for a long time,usually,the defatted plant materials are used for extracting silybin.The extraction methods include heat reflux extraction,enzyme assisted-extraction,Soxhlet extraction,gas-expanded liquid extraction and so on.The purification operation involves many tedious steps such as recrystallization,gradient extraction,column separation and high speed countercurrent chromatography.Silybin can be used to treat skin cancer,lung cancer,bladder cancer and many other cancers.Here,according to the most recently reported anti-cancer activities,research process on silybin in terms of its plant origin,extraction and purification are systematically summarized in this paper,in order to provide a more comprehensive reference for the development and application of silybin.