Abstract: Zedoary turmeric oil dry powder inhalers (ZDPIs) and curcumol dry powder inhalers (CDPIs) were prepared and intratracheally (i.t.) administered to the rats that suffered from acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and their therapeutic efficiencies were compared. Zedoary turmeric oil nanoemulsions and curcumol nanoemulsions were separately prepared and ZDPIs and CDPIs were obtained after the emulsions were added with 5% mannitol and lyophilized. ZDPIs and CDPIs are loose white powders with the aerodynamic diameters (D_a) of 3.02 and 2.67 µm, respectively. Both ZDPIs and CDPIs were suitable for pulmonary delivery. Animal experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee of Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences and the experiments were conducted in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. ALI rat models were established by i.t. administration of 0.2 mL of 5 mg·mL^-1 LPS solution and ZDPIs (with zedoary turmeric oil 0.5 mg) or CDPIs (with curcumol 0.5 mg) were i.t. administered. Both of them remarkably alleviated bleeding of injured lung tissues, and great reduced the levels of inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, total proteins in the lung tissues (P<0.001). They showed similar high effect against ALI. The non-curcumol components in zedoary turmeric oils could also have anti-inflammatory effect. ZDPIs and CDPIs are promising medications for the treatment of ALI and this comparative study is a paradigm of the research on active ingredients and effective compounds in natural products.