The invention discloses a whitening cosmetic composition which comprises, by weight percentage, 0.01-5.00% of glycyrrhiza glabra extract, 0.1-10.00% of whitening compound, 0.01-10.00% of citrus peel extract and 75.00-99.85% of cosmetic auxiliary material substrate, wherein the whitening compound comprises water, butanediol, arbutin, citric acid, sodium sulphite, acetyl tyrosine, saxifraga sarmentosa extract, peony root extract, amino-propanol ascorbic acid phosphate ester, radix scutellariae root extract, glutathione and hydrolyzed mirabalan. The whitening cosmetic composition contains the glycyrrhiza glabra extract, the whitening compound and the citrus peel extract, and the composition has safe and efficient skin whitening effects.