Abstract: Ginseng-formulated toilet soap sample was extracted by ethanol under assistance of ultrasonic action.Then the extract was purified by extraction with a series of solvents.Total ginsenoside content in the purified extract sample was determined by vanillin-perchloric acid colorimetry with detection wavelength of 540 nm.Results showed that the relationship between the absorbance and the ginsenoside content displays good linearity within range of 0.02-0.24 mg (r=0.999 5) and average recovery rate was 96.04% with a relative standard deviation of 2.29% (n=5).Determination test with samples of six kinds of ginseng-formulated toilet soap was carried out and the total ginsenoside content lies within 1.72-9.66 mg·g^-1.

Key words: ginseng-formulated toilet soap, total ginsenoside, vanillin-perchloric acid colorimetry, determination