Sweet orange belongs to the Rutaceae family, genus Citrus, and is an evergreen small tree. It is mainly produced in Brazil, the United States, Israel, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Guinea, Australia, Indonesia, Russia, and the southern and eastern regions of China. Cold pressing of fresh whole fruits (yielding 0.35%~0.37% oil) or cold pressing of fresh peels (yielding 0.3%~0.5% oil) produces cold-pressed sweet orange oil. Alternatively, the residue after cold pressing or collected crushed peels can undergo steam distillation to yield distilled sweet orange oil, with an oil yield of 0.4%~0.7%.

Cold-pressed sweet orange oil is a yellow to reddish-yellow clear flowing liquid with a relative density of 0.842~0.850 and a refractive index of 1.470~1.476. Distilled sweet orange oil is a colorless to pale yellow liquid with a relative density of 0.840~0.844 and a refractive index of 1.471~1.474. It has a light, fresh, and sweet aroma of sweet orange peel. It becomes cloudy when cold. It is miscible with anhydrous ethanol and carbon disulfide, soluble in glacial acetic acid (1:1) and ethanol (1:2), and poorly soluble in water.