The invention relates to the technical field of medicine preparation, and in particular relates to application of 3,5,3',4'-trihydroxy-stilbene-3'-b-D-glucoside in preparation of medicines for treating cancers. The cytotoxic effect of the 3,5,3',4'-trihydroxy-stilbene-3'-b-D-glucoside on 12 human tumor cells cultured in vitro and a human normal cell is tested through an MTT method; and the 3,5,3',4'-trihydroxy-stilbene-3'-b-D-glucoside has a relatively good inhibiting effect on proliferation of a human lung cancer cell line, a human colon cancer cell line, a human erythroleukemia cell line, a human gastric cancer cell line and a human breast cancer cell line, and has no inhibiting action on proliferation of human normal cells. The curative effect of the 3,5,3',4'-trihydroxy-stilbene-3'-b-D-glucoside on a nude mouse transplantation tumor of a human lung cancer cell line A549 is also tested. The result shows that the 3,5,3',4'-trihydroxy-stilbene-3'-b-D-glucoside has obvious inhibiting action on proliferation of the nude mouse transplantation tumor of the human lung cancer cell line A549 after continuous intravenous injection for 14 days; and the dose-effect relationship is obvious.