A direct derivatization and high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the trace analysis of 8 carbonyl compounds,e.g.formaldehyde,acetaldehyde,acetone,acrolein,propaldehyde,crotonaldehyde and 2-butanone and butaldehyde in water-based adhesive.The method adopted 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine（DNPH） to directly react with the adhesive sample solution,and the influence factors were investigated and optimized.The best derivatization condition was using the adhesive to react directly with DNPH at 40 ℃ for 20 min.The optimized chromatograpic conditions were as follows:DIONEX Acclaim Explosives E2 reversed-phase column as separation column,water and acetonitrile as mobile phase by double gradient elution.The flow rate was set at 1.2 mL/min,and the column temperature was set at 35 ℃.Under the optimal conditions,the linear ranges of 8 carbonyl compounds were all in 0.001 1-55.32 mg/L，with correlation coefficients higher than 0.999.The limits of detection for 8 carbonyl compounds were 0.066 3-1.691 1 mg/kg,and the limits of quantitation were 0.221-5.637 mg/kg.The relative standard deviations were between 4.3% and 9.3%,and the recoveries were 62%-100%.The established method was sensitive,simple and accurate,and was practical for the determination of 8 carbonyl compounds in wate-based adhesive.