To establish a method for determination of 17 illegally added drugs in memory improving health food with the formulas of oral liquid, pills, soft capsule by high performance liquid chromatography.Methods Samples in different dosage formulas were extracted with 50% methanol by ultrasonic and cleaned up with C₁₈ SPE cartridges, then separated ona AnccliaimTM Mixed-Mode WCX-1 HPLC column with a mobile phase of 100 mmol/L sodium dihydrogen phosphate solution-acetonitrile for gradient elution, and quantified with external standard with photodiode array detector method. Results The calibration curves of the 17 chemical drugs with in appropriate concentration ranges showed a good linearity with high correlation coefficients. The average recoveries were from 85% to 120% with RSDs of 0.8%-4.8%.The detection limits of the 17 chemical drugs ranged from 10 to 40 μg/ml.Conclusion This method is simple, accurate and rapid. It could be used for simultaneous determination of 17 illegally added drugs in health food in the formulas of oral liquid, pills, soft capsule, and is suitable for confirming 17 illegally added drugs in memory improving health food.