The invention belongs to the technical field of tobacco packing box, and in particular relates to a method for detecting contents of 21 volatile organic compounds (VOC), including benzene, methyl benzene, p-xylene, m-xylene, o-xylene, styrene, methanol, ethanol, acetone, isopropyl alcohol, methyl acetate, normal propyl alcohol, ethyl acetate, butanone, acetic acid isopropyl ester, n-butyl alcohol, propylene glycol monomethyl ether, n-propyl acetate, propylene glycol monoethyl ether, 4-methyl-2-pentanone, butyl acetate, cyclohexanone in a tobacco packing box. The method for detecting 21 volatile organic compounds in the tobacco packing box disclosed by the invention comprises the following steps of: sample pretreatment: preparing a piece of hard box packing paper; cutting and reserving a main packing surface by an area of 22.0cm*5.5cm; rolling the printing surface of the sample inwards to obtain a barrel-shaped part; putting the barrel-shaped part in a headspace bottle; adding 1000mu l of glycerol triacetate; sealing, and implementing a headspace-gas chromatography detection. The method disclosed by the invention is high in sensitivity, high in recovery rate, and excellent in precision of detecting result.