Abstract: A GC-MS method was proposed to determine 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in radix notoginseng extract. The sample was extracted with hexane, purified by gel permeation chromatography, separated by GC using HP-5MS column as stationary phase, detected by MS adopting EI-SIM, and quantified by external standard method. Linear relationship between the peak area and the mass concentration of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were in the range of 0.01-1.0 mg·L-1, with limits of quantification (10S/N) in the range of 0.3-9.5 μg·kg-1. Tests for recovery were made by addition of 0.01, 0.05, 0.1 mg·kg-1 of standard samples, giving values of recovery in the range of 70.1%-111% with RSD′s (n=6) in the range of 3.0%-9.4%.