[Objectives]  Zele chlorophthalmus is an important natural enemy of Loxoste gesticticalis larvae. Constructing the Z. chlorophthalmus antenna transcriptome database and mining this for olfactory-related protein genes provides a theoretical basis for optimizing the potential of this species as a biocontrol agent. [Methods]  The Illumina Novaseq 6000 high-throughput sequencing platform, transcriptome sequencing and sequence assembly were used to sequence Z. chlorophthalmus antennae genes, after which bioinformatics research and analysis were used to identify associated olfactory genes. BLAST software analysis of antennal unigene sequences was compared with that of authoritative databases (Pfam, Swiss-Prot, NR, COG, KEGG and GO) and complete gene function related annotations. [Results]  A transcriptome database was successfully constructed. A total of 65 228, unigenes were sequenced with an N50 of 3 882 bp. A total of 18 662 genes were annotated, accounting for 28.61% of the total. Among these, the NR database had the most (15 863) annotations, accounting for 24.61% of the total. The KEGG database had the least (9 612) annotations comprising 14.91% of the total, the Pfam database had 12 164 (18.86%), the COG database had 15 584 (24.17%), the GO database had 11 634 (18.05%) and the Swiss-Prot database had 11 634, 18.86% of the total. Unigene functions could be divided into three categories based on GO database annotations, which could be further subdivided into 49 branches. These categories were mainly molecular functions, cellular components, and biological processes. Screening of olfactory-related genes by annotating gene function revealed a total of 151 protein genes related to olfaction, including 3 sensory neuron membrane protein (SNMP) genes, 22 ionotropic receptor (IR) genes, 23 gustatory receptor (GR) genes, 83 odorant receptor (OR) genes, 6 chemosensory protein (CSP) genes and 14 odorant binding protein (OBP) genes. [Conclusion]  The Z. chlorophthalmus antenna transcriptome was successfully sequenced and antennal proteins related to olfaction identified and analyzed. These findings provide a theoretical basis for in-depth study of the function of olfactory genes and the molecular mechanisms underlying olfaction.