Abstract: 2-Phenylethanol，with a pleasant fruit incense and honey incense，is not only an important aromatic compound in the fruits and flowers of many plants，but also possesses antimicrobial and insect-attractive properties. The present studies on 2-phenylethanol biosynthetic metabolism only focus on tomatoes，roses，petunia flowers，and the full-length genes encoding key enzymes of biosynthetic pathway have been cloned from tomatoes，roses and some other plants. In this paper，the latest progress in 2-phenylethanol biosynthesis is summarized and the research prospect in this field is analyzed.

Key words: 2-phenylethanol, biosynthetic pathway, research prospect