High performance liquid hromatography (HPLC) was developed to detect fructose, glucose, maltose, sucrose, glycerol, propylene glycol and sorbitol in tobacco. Samples were separated in Hi-Plex Ca cation ion exchange column with ultra pure water as mobile phase, refractive index detector as detector, and injection volume 15 μL, velocity of 0.4 mL/min, column temperature 80 ℃. The results show that the recoveries of sugars and polyols ranged from 97% to 108% with RSD of 0.89%～1.39% in the limit of detection of 1.5～2.0 mg/L. Meanwhile. Thirteen domestic and imported cigarette brands were analyzed by using this method. Results indicate that the propylene glycol, fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose were detected in all cigarettes, while glycerol detected only in domestic cigarette No.1 and imported brand series C, this means that most cigarettes did not use glycerol as humectant. And it was found that imported brand series with two different prices use different proportions of glycerol and propylene glycol. Thus, the humectant formula of imported cigarette may give full consideration in tobacco leaf type, and it maybe worth exploring.