Abstract: The volatile flavor compounds in natural pickled wax gourd samples were extracted by Simultaneous Distillation and Extraction (SDE) and Headspace Solid- Phase Microextraction (HS- SPME) , and then identified by gas chromatography-mss spectrometry (GC-MS) .The results indicated that a total of 61 volatile compounds were extracted and determined with two methods in the sample.A total of 21 compounds were obtained by SDE, and 42 compounds were obtained by HS-SPME.High boiling point volatile compounds were mainly isolated by SDE, such as n- hexadecanoic acid, 1, 2- benzenedicarboxylic acid, bis (2- methylpropyl) ester and docosane, and so on.However, most of the volatile compounds detected by HS- SPME method such as acetic acid, ethanol, acetone and acetic acid ethyl ester were low-boiling point compounds.The reproducibility of HS-SPME method was better than that of SDE was found by calculating the relative standard deviation (RSD) .In general, HS-SPME method was a better way than that of SDE in the extraction of volatile compounds in pickled wax gourd samples.However, the combination of two methods of SDE and HS- SPME dispose will be a perfect method for analysis of volatile compounds in wax gourd samples.