Abstract: To investigate the use of food preservatives and sodium saccharin in commercially available pickles in Xi’an, a total of 144 pickles were randomly collected from farmers’ markets and supermarkets in downtown of Xi’an. According to national standards, benzoic acid, sorbic acid, dehydroacetic acid, and saccharin sodium were detected by high performance liquid chromatography（HPLC）, and their usages in different varieties, packaging methods and procurement sites were analyzed. The results showed that the qualified rate of pickles in the market reached 95.8%, three preservatives were widely used in pickles, and the detection rate of benzoic acid was higher than dehydroacetic acid and sorbic acid. Saccharin sodium detection rate was low, mainly existed in the pickled garlic and a small amount of pickled choi sum. The excessive use of benzoic acid and saccharin sodium were found in bulk pickles, the unqualified rates were 8.3% and 6.9%, respectively, and the excessive usage situation was more serious in farmers’ markets than in supermarkets. Therefore, the supervision and management of bulk pickles in farmers’ markets should be strengthened, the use of food additives should be regulated, and spot check detection of benzoic acid and saccharin sodium should be emphasized.