The establishing and improving of quality standards for ethnic medicine have close relation with the safety and efficacy of clinical medicine. It is significant to promote the modernization and industrialization of ethnic medicine. This paper summarized the present status of quality standards for ethnic medicine, and pointed out the deficiency of ethnic medicine; the origin of medicinal materials was not clear and varieties were confused; the safety research of mineral drug was weak and so on. Based on these, firstly, the research of quality standards for ethnic medicine should be under the guidance of ethnic traditional medical theory and clinical experience and strengthen the quality control and evaluation of safety and effectiveness for ethnic medicine. Further, much attention should be payed to protection of natural medicinal resources and sustainable utilization. Lastly, modern chemical analysis technology shouled be used during the research process on the basis of ethnic characteristics. It will promote the establishment and improvement of quality standards for ethnic medicine and will be benificial to modernization and industrialization development of ethnic medicine.