Cordyceps carotenoid is a water-soluble natural pigment with anti-inflammatory， anti-oxidation， immune regulation and other effects. It has a wide application space in the food industry and is a new type of pigment that needs to be developed. In this study， the medium of three high-yield carotenoid strains was optimized by using cereal medium. The results showed that the highest-yield carotenoids strain was CM10 and the optimal medium was 73% wheat， 20% bran and 7% corn. The strain CM10 was used to optimize the conditions of solid state fermentation through single factor and response surface methodology. And the optimum operating conditions were determined as particle size 10 mesh， initial moisture content 48%， growth time of mycelium in the dark 12 d， growth temperature of mycelium in the dark 22 ℃， natural pH， inoculum size 25%， substrate weight 25 g， illumination temperature 25 ℃， illumination time 14 d， the production of carotenoids was 346 μg/g.