Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common digestive disease in clinical practice. A large number of studies have showed that many types of alkaloids exert therapeutic effect on AP, especially on severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Alkaloids are widely distributed in the plant kingdom, and most of them exist in dicotyledonous plants. Here, the authors address the progress concerning the therapeutic effect of several types of currently known alkaloids on AP and their action mechanisms.