Abstract: Ergosterol is one of the functional ingredients in edible fungi, which has anti-inflammatory, lipid-lowering, cancer prevention and immunomodulatory effects with wide application prospects in food and medicine. This article summarizes the research on the extraction methods, contents determination, contents distribution and physiological functions of edible fungus ergosterol in these years, concludes the research state of edible fungus ergosterol and looks forward to the future prospects with a view to edible fungi in order to provide reference for the research, development and utilization of ergosterol in edible fungi.