Major ingredients in American ginseng are ginsenosides. There are over 30 ginsenosides in American ginseng, and 5 major ones are R0, Rb1, Rg1, Re, and pseudoginsenoside F11.

Types of ginsenosides in American ginseng are similar to those in Asian ginseng, and can be classified into three types, namely, oleanolic acid type, dammarane type, and ocotillol type. The majority of ginsenosides in American ginseng are dammarane-type which can be further sub-categorized into protopanaxadiol-type and protopanaxatriol-type. In general, the amount of protopanaxadiol-type ginsenosides (e.g., Rb1) in American ginseng is higher than that in Asian ginseng.

Ginsenosides in American ginseng can be grouped into Ra group, Rb group (Ro, Ra1, Ra2, Ra3, Rb1, Rb2, Rb3, Rc, Rd) and Rg group (Re, Rg1, Rg2, Rg3, Rh1, Rh2).

A number of studies have confirmed that the ginsenosides in Ra group have the weakest activities, the ginsenosides in Rb and Rg groups have a variety of strong pharmacological effects. Though ginsenosides in Rb and Rg groups have many things in common, their pharmacological effects differ each other in many ways.