The pressurized liquid extraction and HPLC-DAD was developed for extraction and determination of bioactive lignans in Schisandra chinensis. The efficient PLE conditions employed methanol as extraction solvent, 125°C of extraction temperature, 5min of static extraction time and only one cycle. A rapid HPLC-DAD method was described for simultaneous determination of nine lignans, including schisandrol A, gomisin J, schisandrol B, tigloylgomisin H, angeloylgomisin H, schisandrin A, γ-schisandrin, gomisin N and schisandrin C. The extraction efficiency of PLE was observed to be comparable with reflux and sonication. In addition, the contents of nine lignans in S. chinensis from different regions were analysed by PLE and HPLC-DAD method.