Abstract: The method for the determination of thirteen trace elements including Al, As, Ba and Cd in different kinds of methanol for reagent and industrial use by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was presented in this paper. The samples were vaporized to dryness at about 80℃, and the residua were dissolved in φ=2% nitric acid. The results showed that the method was simple, rapid and sensitive. The contents of trace elements did not increase with the decline of methanol quality grade, and the contents of trace elements in the same grade methanol produced by different manufactures were significantly diverse. The developed method was applied to the determination of trace elements in a spiked methanol sample for industrial use. The recoveries of the elements detected were 90%—110% with the relative standard deviations of less than 6%.