Three new compounds, a sesquilignan ( 1 ) and two glucosylated phenylpropanoids ( 2 , 3 ), and seven known compounds ( 4 – 10 ), were isolated from the fruits of Illicium verum HOOK. FIL. ( Illiciaceae ). The structures of 1 – 3 were determined based on one and two dimensional (1D- and 2D-) NMR data and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra analyses. Compounds 3 , 5 , 6 , and 8–10 exhibited potent inhibitory activities against topoisomerase II with IC₅₀ values of 54.6, 25.5, 17.9, 12.1, 0.3 and 1.0 µM, respectively, compared to etoposide, the positive control, with an IC₅₀ of 43.8 µM.