Lingnan， locating on the southern coast of China， is a major distribution center of Chinese medicinal materials and imported southern medicine. It is also a well-known patent medicine production base and a foreign trade port. This paper collected relevant historical documents of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） industry of Lingnan in different times， including Chinese herbs， decoction pieces， Chinese patent medicines and TCM shops. TCM industry of Lingnan originated from the Qin dynasty， and began to develop slowly from the Qin and Han dynasties to the southern and northern dynasties. Private drugstores appeared from the Tang and Song dynasties to the Yuan dynasty， and pharmaceutical commodity production appeared in the Ming dynasty. The TCM industry reached its peak in Qing dynasty， and the modern economic form of the TCM industry appeared during the Republic of China （1912—1949）. It is of great significance for the inheritance， development and innovation of TCM industry of Lingnan to sort out its development history and clarity its development context.