Ezetimibe is an effective oral cholesterol-lowering drug,belonging to the type of cholesterol absorption inhibitors.The key frameworks of ezetimibe are chiral β-lactam ring and chiral hydroxyl group on side chain.The synthetic strategies of β-lactam ring include addition(Staudinger reaction,Kinugasa-Hashimoto reaction,etc.),and intramol. ring closure(aminolysis of esters).The synthetic methods of chiral hydroxyl group mainly include carbonyl asym. reduction,and ethylene oxide reductionIn this paper,sixteen synthetic routes of ezetimibe according to the synthetic methods of the two key frameworks were summarized.