Compound salvia pellet (CSP), consisting of active herbal ingredients extracted from Salvia miltiorrhiza (dan shen), Panax notoginseng (sanqi), and Cinnamomum camphora (borneol), is taken most frequently by patients with angina pectoris in China. The efficacy and safety of CSP for the treatment of stable angina pectoris was evaluated in a meta-analysis. An extensive search including Medline, Embase, Biological Abstracts, Chinese Biomedical Database and Chinese Cochrane Centre Controlled Trials Register from 1994 to 2004 was performed. Data were extracted independently from the included trials by two reviewers. Twenty-seven RCTs (n = 3722), regardless of language or publication status, were identified. The methodological quality of the trials, assessed by the Jadad scale, was low. Statistical pooling of the results showed that CSP treatment had significant effects on the improvement of angina symptoms and showed improvements in electrocardiogram results. The percentage of patients with adverse events was significantly decreased in the treatment of CSP in comparison with nitrates (2.4 vs. 29.7%).