OBJECTIVE： To compare the extraction effects of steam distillation method （SD） and extraction-azeotropic distillation coupling technology （WER） on the volatile oil from Citrus aurantium and Cyperus rotundus， so as to determine the suitable extraction method and improve the extraction technology of volatile components in Qizhi weitong granule. METHODS： SD and WER were used to extract the total volatile oil from C. aurantium and C. rotundus. t-test was conducted for the yield of volatile oil extracted by the two methods. GC-MS method was used to analyze the volatile oil， and the main components were determined. The relative content of main components was determined compared by area normalization method. GC-MS conditions included that Agilent HP-5 capillary column （30 m×0.25 mm ， 0.25 μm）， inlet temperature of 250 ℃， nitrogen as carrier gas， flow rate of 1 mL/min， split ratio of 20 ∶ 1， sample size of 2 μL， temperature programmed， electron bombardment， electron bombardment energy of 70 eV， scanning range of m/z 50-500. RESULTS： The appearance of volatile oil extracted by WER was more clear， with better product phase than that by SD. The average yield of volatile oil extracted by WER method were significantly higher than SD method （1.78％ vs. 1.48％， P＜0.01）. The volatile oil extracted by WER method and SD method contained 39 and 38 components， involving 38 common components. Among them， D-limonene， acetophenone， ketoenone and α-ketone were the main components of the total volatile oil from C. aurantium and C. rotundus， and the sum of the 4 main components was about 73.40％ （WER method） and 68.46％ （SD method） of the total components.  CONCLUSIONS： Compared with SD method， WER method for extracting volatile oil from C.aurantium and C. rotundus is better in product， phase higher in yield and higher in content of active volatiles， and is more suitable for the extraction of volatile components in Qizhi weitong granule.