Antibiotic bacterial residue, as the waste produced in the pharmaceutical industry, has seriously restricted the development of the pharmaceutical industry in China. In order to make comprehensive use of it, finding a new and environmentally friendly treatment method has become an important subject for the entire antibiotic industry. In this paper, the progress in the process of extracting protein, chitosan and ergosterol from bacterial residue by physical, chemical and biological methods in recent years was reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of each process and the application status of these active substances were analyzed. Finally, based on the characteristics of antibiotic residue, the problems of extracting active substances from antibiotic residue were analyzed, and the solutions were prospected.