Abstract: Five cations,i.e.,Na+,NH+4,K+,Mg2+ and Ca2+ in beer were determined by ion chromatography with supressed conductivity detection.The IonPac@CS 12A cation chromatographic column was used for separation of the cations,and 10 mmol·L-1 methane sulfonic acid solution was used as mobile phase,with a flow-rate of 1 mL·min-1.Detection limit (3S/N) found for the 5 cations were in the range of 0.005-0.024 mg·L-1.Values of RSD′s (n=7) of the results found were ranged from 0.89% to 5.10%.Recovery of the method were tested by standard addition method,giving results in the range of 93.7%-104.0%.