中草藥分析對於中醫藥的臨床治療應用日趨重要，此重要性除了包括中草藥的品質管制、藥效成分的安定性、中草藥的儲架期，藥效成分在生物體內的濃度外，亦包括藥效成分的藥物動力學研究。過去幾十年來，氣相層析儀一直是分析揮發性成分理想的方法。而不具揮發性成分，常以具高分離效果的液相層析儀來分析。近年來，高效液相層析儀結合各種檢測器在中草藥的分析上，扮演極重要的角色。此外，與氣相層析儀或液相層析儀在技術上有互補作用的毛細管電泳，也是重要的中草藥分析方法。本篇綜論將討論各種高效液相層析系統、毛細管電泳及相關技術在各種中草藥分析上的應用。

An incrasing number of analytical techniques have been brought to bear on the herbal drugs used in traditional Chinese medicine. This in turn has led to improved quality control of medicinal herbs, ingredient stability and shelf-life tests, ensurement of the concentrations of herbal drug ingredients in biological fluids, and pharmacokinetic studies. In the past decades, gas chromatography has been the method of choice for the analysis of volatile compounds, while liquid chromatography is a highly successful separation technique for nonvolatile molecules. Recently, high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with various column and detection systems have become some of the most important techniques for the qualitative and/or quantitative evaluation of medicinal herbs. Capillary electrophoresis has also been used to complement gas chromatography and liquid chromatography for herbal drug analysis. This review discusses the liquid chromatographic systems, and capillary electrophoresis and related technologies that have been applied in various medicinal herb analysis.