Pheretima is a traditional animal medicine commonly used in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke in China. In this paper，the formula preparation containing pheretima，the multi-origin of pheretima，the concocting method and the quality control method of pheretima were summarized. According to the known literature，most chinese medicine preparations containing pheretima have the promoting blood circulation and dredging collaterals efficiency，and can be used to treat thrombosis-related diseases. However，due to the characteristics of the multi-origin of pheretima and the different concocting methods，the pheretima medicinal materials and decoction pieces in the Chinese herbal medicine market are mixed and the biological activities are uneven. Although there have been studies on the quality control methods of different components in pheretima，such as nucleosides，proteins，amino acids and organic acids，the specificity is poor and it is difficult to reflect the biological activity of pheretima，in particular，the related control methods of promoting blood circulation and dredging collaterals efficiency need further study.