ABSTRACT
As a complementary and alternative medicine, Chinese materia medica (CMM) is an important component in the treasure-house of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with increasing attention all over the world. Efficacy and safety are the two principles of CMM. At the same time, the adverse reaction of CMM should be paid more attention. Drug abuse and drug-drug interaction are the main cause of kidney damage. In the paper, nearly 100 experimental and clinical papers concerning on renal toxicity of CMM from domestic and foreign databases in the past 20 years were searched. In particular, the evaluation methods of CMM were summarized, and the advantages and feasibility of the method were analyzed, in order to provide the support for the early detection of renal toxicity of CMM and safety assessment of CMM.