Fifty-five patients with chronic viral hepatitis B were randomly divided into two groups. Thirty patients were treated with Phyllanthus amarus compound (PA Co) for three months in the treatment group, another 25 patients were treated with domestic recombinant human interferon alpha-1b (IFN-alpha 1b) for three months as controls. The total effective rate in the treatment group was 83.3%, showing no significant difference from the control (p>0.05). The normalization rates of ALT, A/G and SB in the treatment group were 73.3%, 80.0% and 78.2% respectively, which were significantly higher than that in the control (p<0.05). The negative conversion rates of HBeAg and HBV-DNA in the treatment group were 42.3% and 47.8%, showing no significant difference from the control (p>0.005). It is indicated that PA Co has remarkable effect for chronic viral hepatitis B in recovery of liver function and inhibition of the replication of HBV.