Abstract: The essential oils of Thymus vulgaris were extracted by steam distillation, organic solvent extraction and supercritical CO₂ extraction.The amounts,compositions and relative contents of the essential oils extracted from the three methods were compared.The results showed that the amount of essential oils extracted by steam distillation was 0.21%,the main chemical components were thymol(36.53%), benzene,1-methyl-3-(1-methylethyl)-(14.13%),1,4-cyclohexadiene,1-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)(8.09%), and caryophyllene(4.14%);the amount of essential oils extracted by organic solvent extraction was 0.19%,the main components were 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid,mono(2-ethylhexyl)ester(55.23%),thymol(8.73%),and 1,4-cyclohexadiene,1-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)(5.23%);and the amount of essential oils extracted by supercritical CO₂ extraction was 0.27%,the main components were thymol(26.68%),2-propenoic acid,3-phenyl-,methyl ester(21.55%), and benzene,1-methyl-3-(1-methylethyl)(9.69%).Based on the quality,major chemical compositions and extraction amount of essential oils,the steam distillation was the best method to extract essential oils from Thymus vulgaris.