Background　Ephedrine， as a kind of sympathomimetic agent， can accelerate the delivery of non-depolarizing muscle relaxant to the neuromuscular junction by increasing cardiac output， thus shortening the onset time of muscle relaxant.　Objective　To review the advances of ephedrine use in shortening the onset time of non-depolarizing muscle relaxant and provide reference for clinical anesthesia.　Content　This article mainly elaborates the mechanism of ephedrine on shortening the onset time of non-depolarizing muscle relaxant， dosage， medication timing and adverse reactions.　Trend　Ephedrine has been proved to provide a practical way for shortening the onset time of non-depolarizing muscle relaxant in clinical anesthesia.