Volatile aroma components in 4 kinds of mackerel samples （fresh， cooked， air-dried， sun-dried） were extracted by solid phase microextraction （SPME） and analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry（GC-MS） to qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis. The contributions of volatile compounds were evaluated by a relative odor activity value（ROAV）. The results showed that totally 37，47，42 and 43 kinds of volatile compounds in fresh， cooked， air-dried and sun-dried mackerel were detected； hydrocarbons were found to be the most abundant volatile compounds in fresh mackerel， and aldehydes were found to be the most abundant volatile compounds as a consequence of aggravated lipid oxidation during the drying process； nonanal， hexanal， benzaldehyde， phenylacetaldehyde， 2-nonanone， 2-undecanone and ethylbenzene were the key volatile compounds in the fresh mackerel； nonanal， undecanal， hexanal， benzaldehyde， 2-nonanone， 2-undecanone were the key volatile compounds during the drying process.