Abstract: Samples of star anise or cinnamon were digested with a mixture of HNO3 and H2O2(5+3) with high-pressure digestion,then cadmium and lead were measured by GFAAS with 20 g·L-1 (NH4)2HPO4 as matrix modifier. The ashing temperatures for cadmium and lead were 400 ℃ and 600 ℃,respectively;the atomization temperatures for cadmium and lead were 1 800 ℃ and 2 100 ℃,respectively. Linearity ranges for cadmium and lead were within 10 and 50 μg·L-1,respectively,with detection limits (3s/k) of 0.42,0.98 μg·L-1,respectively. Values of recovery measured by standard addition method were in the range of 96.0%-103%,with RSD′s (n=6) of 0.24%-1.7%.