Abstract: A novel composite coating was designed and it consist of chitosan,ε-polylysine and carrageenan. The optimized formulation was obtained by the Box-behnken response surface design,and the optimized formulation was 1.81 g/mL of chitosan,0.19 g/mL of carrageenan and 0.13 g/mL of ε-polylysine. Under this condition,the TBA value was 0.3028 mg/mL. The effects of composite coating on the preservation of shrimp were studied. The evaluation was based on the electronic nose technology and combining with sensory evaluation,pH and TVB-N value. The results showed that PEN3 electronic nose system adapted LDA methods was a powerful tool for evaluating the preservation effect. Different coating treatments and different volatile compounds were easily distinguished by the electronic nose. The composite coating film was better than the chitosan-only coating film. And both of the coating groups were better than that of the blank group obviously. The shelf life of Chinese shrimp was prolonged by the composite coating film for four days compared with the blank group.