Vetiver essential oil microcapsules were prepared using gelatin and chitosan as the shell material and vetiver essential oil as the core. Using the single factor and orthogonal experiments, we optimaized the best preparation process of microcapsules and charactered the vetiver essential oil microcapsules by SEM, particle size, potential and FTIR. The release of vetiver essential oil in microcapsules at pH 1.5 and 7.4 was measured, and the anti-inflammatory effect of microcapsules in vitro was studied by mouse RAW 246.7 cells. The results showed that the encapsulation rate reached 90.96% in the condition of the vetiver essential oil amount was 0.3g and the wall material amount was 1g (the mixing ratio of gelatin and chitosan was 30∶2). and, The surface of the microcapsules was continuous and spherical. The particle size of the microcapsules was 2.303 μm and the zeta potential was -10.7 mV. It had good stability and excellent packaging effect. The microcapsules showed a good release character at pH 7.4 with a cumulative release of 87.49% within 72h. Cell experiments showed that the microcapsules (60, 90, 120 μg/mL) were safe and non-toxic and effectively inhibited the interleukin-1β (IL-1β), Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) secretion. The vetiver essential oil microcapsules are simple to prepare and stable in quality with good anti-inflammatory activity.