Tetracycline in eggs need to be detected to ensure food safety.Methods Spectrophotometry was improved in the experiment. Tetracycline from 6 different samples was extracted respectively with suitable extraction reagent and enriched, and then determined by spectrophotometry. Results The average contents of tetracycline in the 6 samples were 237.2,3.1,8.0,1.8,9.4 and 252.3 μg/kg respectively and the recovery was above 98%. Conclusion The method was easy to operate and the equipment was simple. It is suitable for detection of tetracycline in eggs in local inspection departments, poultry farms and units without high performance liquid chromatography.