Objective To establish a method for the simultaneous determination of eight volatile halogenated hydrocarbons in drinking water by headspace-gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Methods 10 ml of water sample was accurately transferred to a 20 ml headspace vial and 1.0 g NaCl was added, the mixture was equilibrated at 55 ℃ for 30 min, then analyzed by GC-MS/MS. The samples were separated by capillary column HP-5MS(30 m×0.25 mm,0.25 μm)and determined by multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The quantitative ion peak area was used for quantification, retention time and abundance ratio of characteristic ion pairs was used for qualitative analysis. Results The linear correlation coefficients (r) were from 0.999 0 to 0.999 7, the relative standard deviation (RSD) were from 1.6% to 5.2%, the spiked recoveries were in the range of 85.0%-98.0% (n=6), and the detection limits were between 0.005 1-0.064 μg/L. Conclusion This method was rapid, simple, precise and sensitive. It was suitable for the accurate detection of 8 volatile halogenated hydrocarbons in drinking water.