Hepatitis C is as dangerous as hepatitis B. Like hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C is an important cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. About 10 million people in China are infected with the hepatitis C virus, but a study on the treatment of hepatitis C patients in China showed that more than one-third of the 512 patients did not receive antiviral treatment in the first year after diagnosis. Hepatitis C can be cured if it is detected in time and given prompt, correct and rational antiviral treatment. Polyethylene glycol interferon alpha (PEGI) in combination with ribavirin is the most commonly used antiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis C. However, there are still many problems in hepatitis C prevention and treatment. There is a lack of awareness of hepatitis C in China, and a survey conducted by the China Hepatitis Prevention and Control Foundation in recent years showed that only 38% of people had heard of hepatitis C, much lower than the knowledge of hepatitis A (91%) and hepatitis B (95%). More than three-quarters of respondents did not know that hepatitis C is curable. Hepatitis C is secretive, with a low diagnosis but high misdiagnosis rate, and early detection and diagnosis is currently difficult to achieve. Nearly two-thirds of all hepatitis C patients who participated in the above study were unaware that they were infected with the hepatitis C virus. According to some data, 15% of hepatitis C patients are in advanced stages of disease progression at the time of diagnosis. Proper treatment is also not taken after diagnosis because of a lack of awareness of the importance of antiviral treatment. With the current standard treatment of pegylated interferon alpha in combination with ribavirin, some patients are unable to start treatment due to contraindications to interferon, while others are overwhelmed by the side effects of both interferon and ribavirin, such as influenza-like symptoms, bone marrow suppression and hemolysis, renal damage, psychiatric abnormalities, abnormalities in thyroid function, and skin damage. There are also patients who do not respond to interferon therapy and relapse. The currently available standard treatment regimen for chronic hepatitis C, pegylated interferon alpha in combination with ribavirin, has a cure rate of 44% to 70% in genotype 1 patients, which means that there is still a significant percentage of patients who fail to be cured after treatment, especially in the group of refractory hepatitis C patients, such as genotype 1 hepatitis C patients. None of them can benefit from interferon therapy, especially those who have progressed to cirrhosis and are in urgent need of antiviral therapy, but none of them have an ideal treatment at present. In the past two years, oral anti-hepatitis C virus small molecule drugs have seen an unprecedented divine development, and have made breakthroughs in the treatment of hepatitis C. The cure rate has been greatly improved, and the side effects are considerably lower than those of interferon.The treatment of HCV infection has entered the era of direct antiviral agents (DAA) (i.e., small molecule drugs), and the applications include NS3/4A protease inhibitors, NS5A inhibitors, NS5B polymerase inhibitors, and other DAA combination regimens. The application of all oral DAA combination regimens has resulted in SVR rates of more than 97%, a shortened course of treatment to 8-24 weeks, and a very low rate of resistance, mild side effects, an increase in the number of patients suitable for its application, and it has been very effective even in the high-risk and refractory patient populations, and physicians can easily support their patients, so that the treatment benefits outweigh the risks. For those patients who are unable to use interferon, or cannot tolerate the side effects of interferon, small molecule anti-hepatitis C virus drugs are expected to give them hope for a cure.