Two different methods for the determination of three kinds of sugar alcohols in bubble gum and beverage were analyzed and compared. Samples were extracted directly by water. Half part of the extracts was detected by high performance liquid chromatography with differential refractive index detection (HPLC-DRID), the rest part of the extracts was detected by high performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light-scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD). Limits of detection (LOD) of xylitol, sorbitol and maltitol determined by HPLC-DRID were 0.037 5 g/100 g, the correlation coefficients were in the range of 0.999 21～0.999 29, and the recovery rates of spiked samples were in the range of 91.5%～97.3%; LODs of xylitol, sorbitol and maltitol determined by HPLC-ELSD were in the range of 0.009 5～0.027 5 g/100 g, the correlation coefficients were in the range of 0.999 3～0.999 6, and the recovery rates of spiked samples were in the range of 90.9%～96.3%. All results showed that both of HPLC-DRID and HPLC-ELSD were the appropriate methods for the determination of three kinds of sugar alcohols in samples. Compared with HPLC-DRID, the HPLC-ELSD is a more optimal method for the sample with low sugar alcohols contents because of its high sensitivity in the test.