A method was developed for the determination of rhododendrol（RD） in whitening cosmetics by ultra high performance liquid chromatography（UPLC） coupled with fluorescence detection,and the verification analysis was achieved by LC-MS/MS.The samples were extracted with 5% trichloroacetic acid-acetonitrile mixed solution（70∶30）.After centrifugation and filtration,the analysis of RD was performed by UPLC with a conventional C18 column,using 0.1% formic acid-acetonitrile（75∶25） as mobile phase.Fluorescence detection wavelengths were set at λex/λem=280 nm/315 nm.The verification analysis was performed by LC-MS/MS using water（spiked 0.01% ammonia）-acetonitrile as mobile phase by gradient elution.The electrospray was operated in the negative mode（ESI-） under the multiple reaction monitoring（MRM） mode.A good linearity was obtained in the range of 0.05-1.0 mg/L,with a correlation coefficient（r） of 0.999 6,and the limit of quantitation（LOQ,S/N=10） was 2.5 mg/kg for whitening cosmetics.The recoveries of RD ranged from 86.5% to 103.4% with relative standard deviations（RSDs,n=6） of 1.1% - 3.4% at spiked levels of 5.0,10,25 mg/kg in facial mask,cream,lotion and skin water.This method is simple,rapid and accurate,and is suitable for the detection of RD in whitening cosmetics.