Determination of total flavones from euonymus alatus sieb by microwave-assisted extraction and absorption spectroscopy was reported. The effects of solvent concentration, ratio of solution to solid, microwave power and radiation time were evaluated by single factor and orthogonal experiments. The extraction conditions of flavones from euonymus alatus sieb by microwave-assisted method were optimized as 40 : 1 of the weight ratio of 60% (V/V) ethanol to twigs and microwave power of 255 W for 5 min. Under the optimized conditions the relative standard deviation is 1.71% (n = 5) and the recovery is 97%-101%. Compared with Soxhlet extraction and ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction was simple and accurate with good reproducibility. It is suitable for the determination of flavone in many kinds of traditional Chinese medicines.