Objective To explore the differences of the main chemical components between red ginseng water decoction and white ginseng water decoction, which will explain the effect of DuShen Soup and provide a basic selection of raw material of the ginseng decoction. Method Under the same conditions, red ginseng and white ginseng were respectively used as raw materials and decocted with the traditional Chinese medicinal decocting method. Then total lipid, total saponin and total water soluble polysaccharide were separated and extracted from the water decoctions by solvent extraction; GC-MS was used to identify the lipid compositions;the contents of total saponin and total water soluble polysaccharide were analyzed with high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) and ultraviolet spectrophotometer. Result: Red ginseng decoction has five kinds of lipid and white ginseng decoction has ten kinds of lipid. The content of total saponin of red ginseng decoction is 1.3%±0.2%,the content of total saponin of white ginseng decoction is 1.1% ±0.2%;the content of water soluble polysaccharide in red ginseng decoction was 11.75% and in white ginseng decoction was 8.76%. Conclusion the results could show that the main components of red ginseng decoction was more than white ginseng decoction's and both of the decoctions had the lipids.