Abstract: The raw material was the steamed ginseng water (the byproducts of the red ginseng processing) , the essential oil was extracted from the steamed ginseng water by solvent extraction method, the extraction technology was optimized by response surface methodology on the basis of a single factor, the component of the essential oil extracted from the steamed ginseng water was also analyzed by GC-MS. The results showed that when petroleum ether was used as extraction solvent, the optimum extraction conditions were 8h (extraction time) , 80℃ (extraction temperature) and 1∶5 (feed liquid ratio) , the extraction ratio of essential oil from steamed ginseng water reached 0.51% in this optimum extraction conditions. The GC-MS analysis showed that the main component of the essential oil contained alkanes (61.497%) , esters (19.192%) , acids (11.773%) , aldehydes (1.821%) , alcohol (4.367%) and a set of sesquiterpenes caryophyllene and farnesene.