In recent years, more and more attention was payed to the study of andrographolide. Andrographolide has the extensive pharmacological actions, such as anti-tumor, dephlogisticate and antibiosis and anti-virus. It was dected that andrographolide had the action of anti-tumor in gastric cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer. The anti-tumor mechanism of andrographolide was versatile, for instance, andrographolide can induce the apoptosis of cancer cell, inhibit the cell cycle, and increase the antitumor activity of lymphocyte. The following review was about the recent progress of study on the anti-tumor mechanism of andrographolide.