OBJECTIVE：To establish a method for the main active components in Citrus chacheiensis with different storage time （1-19 years）. METHODS：HPLC was conducted to determine the content of hesperidin： the column was Diamonsil C18 with mobile phase of methanol-acetic acid-water （35 ∶ 4 ∶ 61，V/V/V） at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min， detection wavelength was 283 nm， column temperature was 25 ℃， and the injection volume was 5 μl； the contents of nobiletin and tangeretin： the column was Diamonsil C18 with mobile phase of water-methanol（gradient elution） at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min， detection wavelength was 326 nm， column temperature was 25 ℃， and the injection volume was 10 μl； and the content of synephrine： the column was Diamonsil C18 with mobile phase of methanol-potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution（taking 0.6 g potassium dihydrogen phosphate， 1.0 g sodium dodecyl sulfate，1 ml glacial acetic acid dissolved to 1 000 ml） （65 ∶ 35，V/V） at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min， detection wavelength was 275 nm，column temperature was 25 ℃， and the injection volume 20 μl. RESULTS： The linear range was 500-4 500 ng for hesperidin（r＝0.999 8）， 38.816-388.16 ng for nobiletin （r＝0.999 6）， 19.936-199.36 ng for tangeretin（r＝0.999 5） and 640-2 560 ng for synephrine（r＝0.999 9）； RSDs of precision， stability and reproducibility tests were lower than 3％； recoveries were 96.42％-102.75％（RSD＝2.54％，n＝6）， 97.42％-99.95％ （RSD＝2.46％，n＝6），99.26％-106.19％（RSD＝2.31％，n＝6） and 97.47％-99.76％（RSD＝1.95％，n＝6）， respectively. CONCLUSIONS： The method is simple and stable with good reproducibility， and can be used for the contents determination of main active components in C. chacheiensis with different storage time. Pericarpium citri “the older the better” may be irrelevant to the change of the contents of the above-mentioned 4 active components， and it is speculated related to the release of volatile oil content to ease dryness.