Abstract: In order to improve the low recovery of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in soils with different matrices, the extraction, headspace and gas chromatography conditions of HJ 741-2015 were optimized. When extracting samples, 0.20 mL of methanol was added as extractor. Meanwhile, the difference between headspace pressure and pre-column pressure in headspace conditions was optimized to be 0.02 MPa. For chromatographic conditions, the flow rates of carrier gas, combustion gas and auxiliary gas were 1.2, 40, 400 mL·min^-1, and the split ratio was 4∶1. Under optimized test conditions, recoveries of 27 VOCs obtained by standard addition method changed from 53.8%-114% obtained by HJ 741-2015 to 82.2%-103% (especially for VOCs with low sensitive or high boiling point such as 1,1,2-trichloroethane, dibromo-chlorothane, tribromomethane,1,4-dichlorobenzene, 1,2-dichlorobenzene and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene). Detection limits (3s/2) were reduced to 1.00-6.97 μg·kg^-1, and RSDs (n=6) of the determined values were reduced to 0.50%-6.8%, indicating that the proposed method was suitable for the detection of VOCs in soil samples with different matrices.