OBJECTIVE： To optimize the water extraction technology of total polysaccharide of Shuanghu capsules. METHODS： The total alkaloid was firstly extracted from Dendrobium nobile and Dendrobium officinale mixture of Shuanghu capsules with ethanol， and then total polysaccharide was extracted with water. Using glucose as control， total polysaccharide was treated with phenol-sulfuric acid method and its content was determined at 488 nm. Using comprehensive score calculated with the yield of the extract and the content of total polysaccharide as index， the effects of material-liquid ratio， extraction temperature， extraction time and times on the extraction were investigated by single factor test. Then L9（34） orthogonal test was used to optimize solid-liquid ratio，extraction temperature，extraction time and extraction times according to the results of single factor test. The optimized technology was validated. RESULTS： The linear range of glucose were 0.041 4-0.207 0 mg/mL（r＝0.999 9）. RSDs of intra-day and inter-day ranged 3.61％-8.24％ （n＝3，n＝5）， and RSD of repeatability test was 1.49％ （n＝6）. Average recovery rate was 98.65％（RSD＝1.45％，n＝6）. The optimal water extraction technology included solid-liquid ratio of 1 ∶ 25（g/mL），extraction temperature of 100 ℃，extracting for 90 min， extracting once. Results of validation tests showed that average content of total polysaccharide was 379.292 8 mg/g （RSD＝1.93％，n＝3） and average yield of the extract was 22.75％（RSD＝2.41％，n＝3）. CONCLUSIONS： Established phenol-sulphuric acid method is simple， precise and accurate. The optimal water extraction technology is stable and feasible， which can be used for the extraction of total polysaccharides from Shuanghu capsules.