OBJECTIVE： To compare therapeutic efficacy and safety of indapamide separately combined with benazepril， irbesartan or amlodipine for grade 2 essential hypertension （EH）. METHODS： A total of 150 patients with grade 2 EH were randomly divided into benazepril group （50 cases）， irbesartan group （50 cases） and amlodipine group （50 cases）. 3 groups were given Indapamide tablet 2.5 mg orally， once a day. Benazepril group was additionally given Benazepril hydrochloride tablet 10 mg orally， once a day；  irbesartan group was additionally given Irbesartan tablet 150 mg orally， once a day； amlodipine group was additionally given Amlodipine tablet 5 mg orally， once a day. 3 groups were treated for 12 weeks. The levels of systolic pressure， diastolic pressure， heart rate，total cholesterol （TC）， three triacylglycerol （TG） and serum potassium as well as the occurrence of ADR were observed in 3 groups before and after treatment. RESULTS： The total response rate of berazopril group，irbesartar group and a mloelipire group had no significant difference （90.0％ vs. 88.0％ vs. 92.0％，P＞0.05）. There were no statistical significances in the levels of systolic pressure， diastolic pressure， heart rate， TC， TG and serum potassium among 3 groups before treatment （P＞0.05）. After treatment， systolic pressure and diastolic pressure of 3 groups were significantly lower than before， with statistical significance （P＜0.01）； but there was no statistical significance among 3 groups （P＞0.05）. There were no statistical significance in heart rate，TC，TG of 3 groups before and after treatment and the level of serum potassium in benazepril group and irbesartan group （P＞0.05）. After treatment， the level of serum potassium in amlodipine group was significantly lower than before， with statistical significance （P＜0.05）. The incidence of ADR in irbesartan group was significantly lower than benazepril group and amlodipine group， with statistical significance （P＜0.05）； but there was no statistical significance between benazepril group and amlodipine group （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS： The indapamide separately combined with benazepril， irbesartan or amlodipine have similar therapeutic efficacy for grade 2 EH， but the safety of irbesartan is better than those of benazepril and amlodipine.