Depression is a common illness that severely limits psychosocial functioning and diminishes quality of life. The mechanisms of depression are very complex， and most of antidepressants have problems such as low treatment rate， delayed response and side effects. In recent years， researcher gradually pay attention to natural active ingredients， especially those that are homologous to medicine and food， for effective， safe and low toxic antidepressant substances. This article reviewed researches on the mechanism of depression and natural active ingredients in recent years. It was expected to provide ideas for screening new safe and effective antidepressant compounds， and theoretical basis for developing novel antidepressant products.