Backgrounds: Danggui, one of the major herbs in Korean traditional medicine consists of three species: Angelica gigas of Korea, Angelica sinensis of China, and Angelica acutiloba of Japan. Despite its importance in Korean traditional medicine, recognition of the clinical differences between its three species is insufficient. Objectives: The purpose of the present review is to suggest evidence in using Angelica gigas, Angelica sinensis, and Angelica acutiloba distinctively in clinic, by comparing their pharmacological effects and bioactive compounds. Methods: We searched articles published from 2000 to 2009 in Pubmed, EMbase, and RISS. The search keywords were "Angelica gigas", "Angelica sinensis", "Angelica acutiloba", "dongquei", "toki", "Angelicae Radix", "Archangelica officinalis Hoffm.", "Garden Angelica", "Chinese angelica root", "tangkuei", and "danggui". 861 articles were searched. Among them, we selected 143 articles which met our inclusion criteria. Results: This review summarizes active constituents, experimental studies, clinical studies, pharmacokinetics, side effects and toxicity, drug interaction, and industrial use of Angelica gigas, Angelica sinensis, and Angelica acutiloba. Conclusions: While Angelica sinensis and Angelica acutiloba are relatively similar, Angelica gigas is quite different from the others in main active constituents and genetic form. The main experimental studies of Danggui are cardiovascular studies, central nervous system studies and anti-cancer activity. Even though there were cases in which the three species show similar pharmacological effects, the mechanism was not always shared. Therefore, distinguished use of Angelica gigas, Angelica sinensis and Angelica acutiloba is needed.