In the process of production, processing, storage and transportation, foods are easily infected by fungi and mycotoxins, which will not only affect the quality of food, but also harm people's health. Plant essential oils have been developed into different preparations (such as microcapsule, compound film, liposome, hydrogel, aerosol etc.) owing to their advantages of high speed of biological degradation in the environment and being safe to people and animals, which could be widely used in food preservation. The types of fungi and mycotoxins, antibacterial components of essential oil, and the development and application of essential oil preparation were discussed in this paper in order to provide the basis for further research, development and application of plant essential oil in food antifungal.