Abstract: In recent years,the biological effects and safety of synthetic carotenoids have been disputed. People's attention has been attracted by microalgae,the best resource of natural carotenoids. In the process of utilizing microalgae for carotenoids production,extracting technology becomes one of the key steps in promotion and application of microalgae carotenoids.In this paper,microalgae specises which have high content carotenoids were introduced,and different extracting methods on carotenoids from microalgae and the latest research progress in China and abroad were reviewed.The in situ extraction in which cultivating microalgae and extracting carotenoids could be carried out simultaneously was particularly discussed.Finally,the future trends of microalgae carotenoids was proposed.