Abstract: In this paper,high pressure liquid chromatography(HPLC),ion chromatography(IC)and capillary electrophoresis(CE)are applied to analyze the anion(RCOO^-)content and distribution of short-chain carboxylic acids(C₁-C₅ monoaiomic acid,C₂-C₆ biatomic acid)from oil-field water and the hydrothermal degraded solution of kerogens.HPLC method(ODS-C₁₈column)is suitable for oil-field water,IC method(AS-1 Dionex column)for the degraded solution of kerogens while CE method(hollow capillary column)for the both kinds of samples with conventional concentration.The liquid samples only need to be through a filter film,being analyzed by direct injection of samples.Therefore,this method is simple and convenient with fair repeatability.