CIE Lab, HPLC-DAD and LC-MS techniques, combined with the national standards methods were applied to determine the basic nutrient and functional compounds of purple rice, and compared with the white rice. HPLC-DAD was used to quantitative analyze the contents of phenolics and flavonoids, and the main kinds of anthocyanins were identified with LC-MS. As a result, there is a big difference on the content of basic nutritional compound: purple rice protein content is 23% higher than white rice, and ash content is 31% higher, but starch content is 15% lower than white rice. And great differences on color value, luminance and chromatic aberration have also been found by color spectrophotometer. On the other hand, purple rice has higher content of anthocyanin, total phenols and flavonoids than white rice, and mainly existed on free states. Based on HPLC and HPLC-MS method, the phenolic acids and flavonoids were analyzed, mainly including protocatechuic acid, chlorogenic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, epicatechin, p-coumarin, rutin and ferulic acid, and anthocyanins are mainly knapweed-3-glucoside, mallow-3-glucoside and peony-3-glucoside. This study may provide experimental basis for further quality evaluation method and development research on functional active substances in the purple rice.