(Objective)An analysis method was developed to determine sodium benzoate in oral liquid prepaertions,and the detection status of multiple batches of samples was also analyzed.(Methods)The HPLC-DAD method was adopted and separated by an Agilent ZORAX Eclipse XDB C18(250 mm × ø4.6 mm,5 μm)column with Methanol-0.02 mol/L sodium dihydrogen phosphate solution(adjusted pH to 3.7 with phos-phates)(30∶70,V/V)as the mobile phase.The column temperature was 30 ℃,the detection wavelength was 228 nm And injection quantity was 10 μL.(Results)The peak area and the concentration of sodium benzoate in 0.0131-0.261 mg·mL-1(r=1.0000);the limit of detection is 0.105 μg·mL-1 and the limit of quantification is 0.209 μ g·mL-1.The average recovery of complex syrup and mixture was 98.3%and 101.6%,and the RSD was 0.82%(n=9)and 0.76%(n=9),respectively;for 105 batches of 56 varieties,the content of sodium benzoate de-tected varied greatly.(Conclusion)The method is simple,rapid,specific and sensitive.It can be used for the quantitative screening of sodium benzoate in oral liquid preparations.