To investigate the aroma characteristics of the Pixian bean paste as the protected geographical indication， the flavor wheel combined with sensory quantitative descriptive analysis was used to describe the flavor characteristics of samples， solvent extraction combined with solvent-assisted flavor evaporation was used to extract the volatile compounds in samples. The aroma-active compounds were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-olfactometry-mass spectrometry， quantified by internal standard method， and were evaluated as the key aroma-active compounds by odor activity values. A total of 28 aroma-active compounds and 15 key aroma-active compounds were identified. Compared with the results by using other pretreatment methods， isovaleric acid， methyl salicylate， hydroxyacetone and ethyl caproate were identified as the key aroma-active compounds of Pixian bean paste for the first time. Twenty-four kinds of compounds were screened by comparing the quantitative results of samples and Maanshan bean paste through principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Guaiacol， 3-methylthiopropanol， linalool， ethyl caproate， 4-ethylphenol， and tetramethylpyrazine were the key differential compounds.