Objective To establish a method for the determination of 24 phthalate esters(PAEs)in drinking water by gas chromatorgraphy-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Methods PAEs in drinking water were absorbed by C18 glass solid phase extraction(SPE)column and eluted with 6 ml ethyl acetate, rotary evaporated to dry and dissolved in 1 ml N-hexane. The volumn of injection was 1 μl. The sample was separated on a HP-5MS capillary column (30 m×0.25 mm,0.25 μm), and the identification and quantification were performed by gas chromatorgraphy-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The external standard method was used for quantification. Results Twenty-four compounds had a good linear relationship (r>0.995).The limits of detection(LODs) were 0.014-0.50 μg/L and the limits of quantification(LOQs) were 0.047-1.7 μg/L. The recoveries at three spiked levels were between 80.2%-113.7%, and the relative standard deviation were between 2.7%-10.3%(n=6). Ten different water samples and nine PAEs were detected by this method. Conclusion This method was accurate, precisive and rapid and it was suitable for simultaneous detection of 24 PAEs in drinking water, source water and bottled water.