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<i>Camellia oleifera</i> is an economically important oilseed tree. Seed meals of <i>C. oleifera</i> have a long history of use as biocontrol agents in shrimp farming and as cleaning agents in peoples’ daily lives due to the presence of theasaponins, the triterpene saponins from the genus <i>Camellia</i>. To characterize the biosynthetic pathway of theasaponins in <i>C. oleifera</i>, members of gene families involved in triterpenoid biosynthetic pathways were identified and subjected to phylogenetic analysis with corresponding members in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>, <i>Camellia sinensis</i>, <i>Actinidia chinensis</i>, <i>Panax ginseng</i>, and <i>Medicago truncatula.</i> In total, 143 triterpenoid backbone biosynthetic genes, 1169 CYP450s, and 1019 UGTs were identified in <i>C. oleifera</i>. The expression profiles of triterpenoid backbone biosynthetic genes were analyzed in different tissue and seed developmental stages of <i>C. oleifera</i>. The results suggested that MVA is the main pathway for triterpenoid backbone biosynthesis. Moreover, the candidate genes for theasaponin biosynthesis were identified by WGCNA and qRT-PCR analysis; these included 11 <i>CYP450s</i>, 14 <i>UGTs</i>, and eight transcription factors. Our results provide valuable information for further research investigating the biosynthetic and regulatory network of theasaponins.