OBJECTIVE To establish the fingerprint of Huatan qushi huoxue decoction （HQHD），and to explore the effects of processing and decoction methods on its components. METHODS Using salvianolic acid B as reference ，HPLC fingerprints of 10 batches of single and mixed decoction of crude drugs ，single and mixed decoction of processed products （original formula referred to 8 ingredients were crude drugs ；processed formula referred to processed products of Alisma orientale ，Salvia miltiorrhiza ， Curcumae Radix and Bupleuri Radix ，and crude drugs of other ingredients ；single decoction referred to the mixing of each ingredient after being decocted separately ；mixed decoction refers to decocting after mixing all ingredients ）were stablished by Similarity Evaluation System of Chromatographic Fingerprints of Traditional Chinese Medicine （2012 edition）. The similarity evaluation，common peak identification and attribution ，chemical pattern recognition analysis were also carried out. RESULTS There were 37 common peaks in each fingerprint of 10 batches of single and mixed decoction of crude drugs ，single and mixed decoction of processed ，the similarities with control fingerprint were higher than or close to 0.950. Nine common peaks were identified，i.e. rutin （peak 12），hesperidin（peak 13），salvianolic acid B （peak 16），quercetin（peak 20），silybin（peak 22）， luteolin（peak 23），autrantio-obtusin（peak 29），23-acetylalismol C （peak 34），saikosaponin b 2（peak 35）；decoction pieces of 8 ingredients all contributed to the fingerprints of HQHD. Principal component analysis （PCA）showed that the 4 kinds of HQHD samples were grouped into one category ，respectively. The clustering result of partial least squares-discriminant analysis was consistent with that of PCA. Corresponding components of peak 1，15，17，18 and 36，salvianolic acid B and luteolin m ay be the differential markers of the quality for mixed decoction samples of crude drugs and processed products ； corresponding components of peak 1，7，17-19，salvianolic acid B and hesperidin may be the differential markers of the quality for single decoction samples of crude drugs and processed products；corresponding components of peak 1，17-19，36， salvianolic acid B and luteolin may be the differential markers of the quality for single decoction and mixed decoction samples of crude drugs ；corresponding components of peak 7，17-19，21， hesperidin，salvianolic acid B ，rutin，luteolin and autrantio-obtusin may be the differential markers of the quality for single decoction and mixed decoction samples of processed products. CONCLUSIONS The established fingerprint of HQHD is stable and reliable. The quality differential components of different decoction samples are luteolin ，hesperidin，etc. The quality differential components of samples processed or not are rutin ，hesperidin，autrantio-obtusin，etc.