The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of foam fractionation to recover saikosaponins. First, the solvent extraction method was applied for the extraction of saikosaponins from radix bupleuri using ethanol or deionized water. Then, the foam fractionation technique in batch mode was used for the recovery of the total saikosaponins from the extract. The effects of initial concentration, air flow rate, liquid loading volume, pH, and operating time on the process performance were investigated. The recovery percentage 77.2% and an enrichment ratio 3.68 of total saikosaponins with one-stage separation were obtained under the optimal conditions of initial saikosaponin concentration 0.18mg/mL, air flow rate 50mL/min, liquid loading volume 200mL, pH 5.5, and operating time of 2h. A two-stage foam fractionation technology was also designed, which was effective for improving both the recovery percentage and enrichment ratio simultaneously.