Adsorption equilibriumis of great importance for the preparative supercritical fluid chromatography (pre-SFC) in defining supercritical adsorption behavior and the industrial amplification. This paper presents adsorption isotherms of Z-ligustilide from supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) on C18-bonded silica. Adsorption behavior was studied at 305.15 K, 313.15 K and 323.15 K with SC-CO2 density varying from 0.687 g.cm(-3) to 0.863 g.cm(-3) with the elution by characteristic points (ECP) method. The adsorption amount of Z-ligustilide from SC-CO2 on C18-bonded silica decreased with the increasing density of the mobile phase as well as the increasing temperature. Adsorption equilibrium data were fitted by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models, and the Langmuir isotherm model performed better for describing the whole adsorption process on the column. The monolayer saturation adsorption capacity of Z-ligustilide is in the range of 3.0 x 10(-4) mg.cm(-3) to 5.5 x 10(-4) mg.cm(-3) with an average value of 4.0 x 10(-4) mg.cm(-3). (C) 2016 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.