A soil survey was carried out, covering six regions, one in the east part, one in the west part and four in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) for contents of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr, Pb, Cd, As and Hg) in agricultural soils. Results showed that 39.79% of the 578 soil samples collected from the top layers of the agricultural land in these regions were found to exceed the criteria for respective heavy metals of Grade Ⅱ of the national standard for environment quality. Ni was the most serious one while Pb the least or still below the criterion. Orchard soils were more polluted than paddy soils and vegetable soils, and the PRD than the east and west of parts of Guangdong, and the Xijiang and Beijiang River valleys (Zhongshan and Shunde) than the Dongjiang River valley (Dongguan and Huizhou) in the PRD. Human activities, soil parent materials and water quality were major causes of the heavy metal pollution of the agricultural lands in these regions.