Polysorbate 80 was the surfactant most frequently used for dissolving insoluble ingredients in injections， especially Chinese medicine injections. Since the safety problems of injections contained the excipient are emerging one after another in recent years， the responsibility of polysorbate 80 cannot be excluded. The present article will comb literatures and basic experimental researches related to the excipient， review its properties， chemical structures， synthetic route， impurities， adverse reactions， and toxicities， and finally put forward that the excipient free of macromolecules could be safer.