A reversed-phase, isocratic high performance liquid chromatographic method has been successfully used to separate and determine the 5 components simultaneously in Kuaian anticold solution. In the anticold solution, paracetamol, caffeine, DL-methylephedrine HCl, chlorpheniramine maleate and guaiacol glyceryl ether were analyzed on a NOVA-PAK C18 column (150 mm x 3.9 mm i.d., 5 microns) at 35 degrees C with V(acetonitrile):V(0.03 mol/L ammonium dihydrogen phosphate):V(0.004 mol/L sodium heptyl sulfonate):V(triethylamine) = 12:44:43.5:0.5 with pH adjusted to 3.0 by orthophosphoric acid as the mobile phase. The detection was performed at 220 nm and the injection volume was 15 microL. For the 5 components mentioned above the calibration curves were linear in a certain range. The recoveries were (99.6 +/- 1.3)%, (98.4 +/- 1.7)%, (98.0 +/- 1.5)%, (98.5 +/- 1.8)%, (100.3 +/- 1.7)% (n = 5) respectively.