Abstract: Pickles made by the tail of cabbages in plateau of Gansu province,which was on the basis of traditional pickled cabbage process,was inoculated with 0.5% mixed strain(Leuconostoc citreum:Bacterium lacticum:Lactobacillus brevis=2:3:1,c/c)and cultured at 20℃. The quality comparison of natural fermentation and artificial inoculated fermentation pickled cabbage was discussed through the main factors such as reducing sugars,total acid,amino acid nitrogen,nitrite content and volatile components. The results showed that,during the whole fermentation process,reducing sugars and amino acid nitrogen contents of the two fermentation pickles decreased gradually. The peak value of nitrite in artificial inoculated fermentation and natural fermentation were 9.03,32.1 mg/kg,respectively. In both natural and artificial inoculated fermentation pickled cabbage,the obtained flavor substance mainly were alkenes,alcohols and esters,and the highest relative amount were 71.8% and 65.6%. Compared to the natural fermentation,the nitrite content of artificial inoculated fermentation decreased apparently,and the artificial inoculated fermentation cycle also shortened. The flavor substances produced by the two fermentation are very contiguous,while the pickled cabbage of natural fermentation is richer in flavor.