Discovery of bioactive compounds from complex mixtures is a challenge. In past decades, several strategies were developed and implemented for rapid and effective screening and characterization of bioactive components in complex matrices. This review mainly focused on the online strategies, which integrated the separation science, mass spectrometry, and bioactivity screening in a single platform, allowing simultaneous screening and characterization of active compounds from complex matrices, especially from the herbs. The online screening methodologies, including pre-column affinity-based screening and post-column bioassay, were discussed and their applied examples were also presented to illustrate the strengths and limitations of these approaches.