Surface soil samples (0~20 cm) were collected from Dongguan in October~December 2002 and analyzed with GC/MS for 16 kinds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) listed for priority control. The average concentration of the 16 in samples was 413 μg/kg. Among the 16, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, chrysene, benzo(b)fluoranthene and pyrene were relatively higher in concentration in the soil, and seven (chrysene, Benz[a]anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluorathene, indeno(1, 2, 3-cd)pyre, benzo[a]pyrene,and dibenzo (a, h) anthrace) showed a better linear relationship with the total amount of PAHs thus being the indicators of PAHs pollution of soils. The PAHs pollution was obviously more serious of the plain area in the North than the hilly region in the South, transitional region in the Central area and the nature reserve in the upper streams of the Watery region. The PAHs in the surface soil of Dongguan came mainly from burning of fossil fuel in the form of atmospheric deposition over long distances. The contents of PAHs in Dongguan agricultural soils were obviously lower than in the agricultural soils of heavily polluted Tianjin.