Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer. Despite the remarkable progress in the management of HCC over the last several decades, the long-term outcome of these patients is still dismal. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) could exert beneficial effects on patients with HCC in combination with modern medical methods. Although there is growing body of evidence in clinical practice in China, the internationalization of TCM remains a great challenge. In this review, we summarized the current evidence on herbs' therapeutic effects on HCC and illustrated the road towards TCM internationalization based on the example of YIV-906 (PHY906), which originated from ancient formulas.