Dictyophora echino-volvata Zane， a kind of the edible Dictyophora indusiata species， has various bioactivities. The present study determined the molecular weight distribution， monosaccharide composition and sugar content of different batches of water extracts from Dictyophora echino-volvata Zane using high performance gel permeation chromatography（HPGPC） and ion chromatography（HPAEC）. In addition， physicochemical properties including the infrared spectral features， solubility， iodine reaction and scanning electronic images of the extracts were detected and compared with those of commercial starches. Results showed that there are three characteristic peak area by the refractive index detector and the corresponding average molecular weights were calculated to be 5.2×104， 6.4×103 and 800 u， successively. The water extract was mainly composed of glucose and the content of glucose was from 75% to 90%. There existed big differences between the extracts and starches in the solubility and iodine reaction and the two methods could be used as a rapid qualitative detection methods. In conclusion， the water extracts from D. echino-volvata Zane could be identified by combining HPGPC and HPAEC techniques. It was an ideal method which can be used for quality control of the industrial productions of extracts from D. echino-volvata Zane.