The research progress in the chemical defense of plant to mammalian herbivore was reviewed in this paper. The plant secondary compounds mainly are phenolics, terpenoids and nitrogen-containing compounds. The defense efficiency of plant to mammalian herbivores is different with the types and content of secondary compounds in plant. Secondary compounds inhibited the foraging of mammalian herbivores by affecting the intake, digestion, metabolites and reproduction of animal. It is the main trends to study the mode of coevolution of plant and animals mediated by plant secondary compounds.