For the copper-containing berberine wastewater produced by pharmaceutical chemosynthesis of Liaohe River, the Fe-C microelectrolysis reactor-ion exchange column combined process was selected according to the the characteristics of the wastewater. The lab- scale and pilot- scale pretreatments were carried out. The results showed that for the influent wastewater with chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of 60 000~80 000 mg/L, copper concentration of 12 000~18 000 mg/L, berberine concentration of 1 700~1 900 mg/L, the removal efficiencies of berberine and Cu2+ were higher than 99.0 %, and the concentration of berberine and Cu2+ in effluent were lower than 1.0 mg/L and 0.5 mg/L after lab scale experiment. For the pilot scale experiment, the CODCr removal efficiency is higher than 44.0 %, while Cu2+ removal efficiency is higher than 79.0 %. 12~13 kg bronze per ton wastewater could be recovered. The Fe-C microelectrolysis reactor-ion exchange column combined process showed good pretreatment effect and released the pressure of biological wastewater treatment in the next stage.