Abstract: In order to extract high-quality zein, corn gluten meal were used as raw materials,ultrasonic-assisted extraction was applied to optimize the extraction process of zein by ethanol. A preliminary evaluation of antioxidant ability was finally conducted. The extraction process conditions were optimized through single factor experiment and response surface method experiment design. The results showed that when the ethanol concentration was 80%, the solid-liquid ratio was 1:13 g·mL^-1, the pH was 11.56, the extraction time was 83 min, and the temperature was 60 ℃, the maximum extraction rate was 27.87%, the purity of extracted zein was 92.47%. The antioxidant test showed that the zein had strong scavenging ability towards DDPH, ABTS and hydroxyl free radicals.