The chemical composition of essential oil, which from the leaves of Chimonanthus grammatus obtained by hydrodistillation were analyzed by GC-MS, and their possible antibacterial properties were screened. According to the results from GC-MS analysis, fifty-three components comprising 99.99% of the essential oil were identified. The major components of essential oil were 3-(4, 8-dimethyl-3,7-nonadienyl)(E) -furan (13.1%), bornyl acetate (12.66%), and 6,6-dimethyl-3-methylene-bicyclo[3.1.1] heptane (7.06%), etc. Antibacterial activity of essential oil was employed by two complementary test systems of disc diffusion and MIC/ MBC tests, which showed obviously antibacterial activity against all of the tested bacteria.