Abstract:SO3 gas pre-treatment and salting out-synergistic assisted hydrodistillation (SSBD) extraction was used to improve extraction efficiency of turmeric rhizome essential oil. The pre-treatment and extraction conditions were optimized by single factor experiments and response surface methodology. The effect of pre-treatment on the micromorphological of turmeric was assessed by SEM, the essential oil components were analyzed with GC-MS, and antioxidant activity of the essential oil was also evaluated. The results showed that the optimal conditions for SSHD were: SO3 dosage 2.0%, pre-treatment temperature 52 ℃, pre-treatment time 50 min, and NaCl concentration 3.3%. Under these conditions, the maximum extraction yield reached 8.08 ± 0.23%, which was 41.0% higher than hydrodistillation extraction (HD). Extraction kinetics studies showed that SSHD increased the maximum extraction yield by 38.0%, enhanced the mass transfer rate by 75.0%, and halved the extraction time. SEM results demonstrated that turmeric rhizome exhibited much pores after pre-treatment. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis demonstrated that the contents of ar-turmerone and β-turmerone were decreased, but α-curcumene, zingiberene, and β-sesquiphellandrene were increased after pre-treatment. SSHD significantly enhanced DPPH radical scavenging activity, the IC50 value was decreased to 3.66 ± 0.18 mg/mL from 7.89 ± 0.72 mg/mL, while it had no significant effect on ABTS radical scavenging activity.