Essential oils from natural plants contain a variety of bioactive ingredients,which are widely used in medicine,food,tobacco and cosmetic industries.Subcritical water extraction(SWE) technology,a new type of green extraction technology,is getting more and more attention.Its application in the extraction of plant essential oil is of great importance for improving the quality of the essential oils.This paper introduces the principle of the research progress,the recent application and research on the plant essential oil extraction of SWE.Finally,its potential application and development prospect in this field are also explored.