A novel method based on ion chromatography was established for the determination of nine chelators in detergent samples．The samples were firstly diluted with deionized water，then purified with IC－RP solid phase extraction columns to eliminate the damage of surfactants in the detergent samples to the chromatographic column，followed by separation on a Dionex IonPac,TM, AS11－HC anion analysis column with high capacity，using a gradient elution with a high purity of potassium hydroxide（KOH） aqueous solution as the eluent at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min，which was produced by an automatic generator，and finally detected by Thermo Fisher Intergrion high pressure ion chromatograph with conductivity detector，and quantified using an external standard method．Sodium gluconate（GNa），trisodium methylglycine diacetate（MGDA），nitrous triacetic acid（NTA），hydroxyl ethylidene diphosphonic acid（HEDP），sodium citrate（CANa），sodium pyrophosphate（TSPP），tetrasodium glutamate diacetate（GLDA） and sodium tripolyphosphate（STPP） showed good linear relationships within the range of 1－200 mg/L．Disodium ethylenediamine tetraacetate（EDTA－2Na） showed a good linear relationship in the range of 50－500 mg/L．The correlation coefficients（,r,） were greater than 0.999．The limit of detection（,S,/,N, = 3） and limit of quantitation（,S,/,N, = 10） for EDTA－2Na were 12.5 mg/L and 40 mg/L，respectively．The limits of detection and the limits of quantitation for the other eight chelators were in the range of 0.02－0.07 mg/L and 0.06－0.25 mg/L，respectively．The average spiked recoveries at high，medium and low three levels ranged from 92.7% to 106%，with the relative standard deviations（RSDs） of 1.0 %－7.9%，of which all met the detection requirements．Furthermore，twenty-seven detergent samples bought from the market were selected for testing．The results showed that NTA and STPP were not detected in all samples，but EDTA－2Na was found in one dishwasher tablet and one baby bottle cleanser，respectively，and TSPP was detected in three dishwasher powders．GLDA was used as the chelator for most samples of laundry detergents and dishwashing detergents，with the contents of 0.10%－0.25%．The contents of chelators in dishwasher detergents were higher than those in dishwashing detergents and laundry detergents．Chelator played an important role as the main builder in dishwasher detergents．It could not only soften water by complexing calcium，magnesium and heavy metal ions and inhibit the growth of inorganic salt crystals to prevent scale formation，but also disperse the stains in solution and synergize the cleaning effect of surfactants on the stains on tablewares．The total contents of chelators ranged from 3.15% to 25.58% in twelve dishwasher detergents，which were determined in this experiment．Overall，this method was suitable for the determination of nine chelators in detergents for its derivatization-free procedure，simplicity，rapidness，accuracy and sensitivity．Moreover，it could provide a method support for the quality evaluation of detergents.