The present invention provides a corn active peptide additive for cell culture medium, wherein in the corn active peptide additive, oligopeptides with molecular weight of lower than 1000 Dalton account for equal to or more than 90 wt % of total proteins, and the oligopeptides at least comprise one or more of AP, SAP, PAL, VNAP, PSSQ, and TQPGPQ. The corn active peptide additive of the present invention can be compounded with various basic culture mediums for serum-free culture of various animal cells, which not only substantially lowers the cost for cell culturing and reduces pollution and other problems caused by an animal derived component, but also can promote cell proliferation, improve cell viability and enhance expression of cell products.