Abstract: The extraction of astaxanthin from shrimp shell with endogenous enzyme is studied, and astaxanthin content in the extract is determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The pH, temperature and hydrolysis time are considered as the factors to study the extraction effect. Orthogonal test is adopted for optimization, taking the yield of astaxanthin from shrimp shell as the evaluation indicator. The results show that the optimum process conditions are 4.0 pH, 50 ℃ and 1.5 h hydrolysis time, with the astaxanthin extraction from wet shrimp shell of 32.16 gg-1, which is 28% more than the extraction by direct ultrasonic treatment. No significant effect on the yield of astaxanthin is observed by adding lipase. Extracting astaxanthin by endogenous enzymes achieves better extraction effect and is economical.