Ayurveda has the following branches:

Kaya chikitsa or internal medicine, Baala or pediatrics, Graha or treatment of diseases of mental nature, Urdhvanga or disease dealing with eyes, nose, throat, and dentistry, Salya chikitsa or surgery including plastic surgery, Danstra or conditions dealing with toxicology, Rasayana or diseases of advanced age, Prasuti or gynecology and obstetrics.

The drugs used in Ayurveda are made by several processes from vegetable and mineral raw materials. Plant alkaloids are the active ingredients. The plants growing in particular soils, pattern of weather, sunlight, time of harvesting, method of preparation of medicine all are very important. The identical species of plant growing in rain forest and city backyard may not have the same medicinal value.

The remedies are prepared in several standardized ways which usually vary based upon the plant utilized and also what condition is being treated. Some of these methods include: infusions, decoctions, tinctures, and macerations. In Ayurveda, the physician generally use these same methods in addition to others. Others include preparing plants in hot baths in which the patient is soaked in it or bathed with it, inhalation of powdered plants, steam inhalation of various aromatic plants boiled in hot water, and even aromatherapy.

The earliest mode of plant preparation involved five methods known as the Pancha Kashaya Kalpana. These methods include expressed juice, paste, decoction, hot infusion and cold infusion.

There are other methods apart from the above five methods of Pancha Kashaya Kalpana. They are Mantha, Panaka, and Arka method.

Jams, arishtas and ghees are also used in Ayurveda.