Abstract: Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is a kind of plant disease, which severely affect the yield and quality of flue-cured tobacco. In this paper, the recent anti-TMV research, application and mechanism of the bioactive natural compounds from plants were reviewed. Natural compounds from high plants with anti-TMV activity mainly include macro-molecular and micro-molecular substances. Antiviral function of these bioactive compounds has multiple aspects, including defending against viral infection, inhibitory and interference activity of virus multiplication and inducing resistance activity of plant. Finally, the difficulties and challenges in development and utilization of natural products from plants with resistance to plant virus were discussed.