In this paper, some semi-volatile components in mainstream smoke and sidestream smoke from 5 domestic commercial cigarette brands were studied. The total mainstream particulate matter was trapped according to the international standard method, the total sidestream particulate matter was collected using the fishtail chimney. The semi-volatile components in cigarette smoke condensate were extracted using simultaneous steam distillation-extraction and analyzed by the GC and GC/MS. 87 components in mainstream and sidestream smoke were isolated and identified, 45 of them were quantitatively determined by GC with the internal standard method, and the distribution ratios of the 45 components between sidestream and mainstream smoke were determined. The results showed that the semi-volatile components in mainstream and sidestream smoke were similar, but the content of each component was quite different. For the common commercial cigarettes the total amount of semi-volatile components in sidestream smoke was obviously higher than that in mainstream smoke, and the contents of most of the semi-volatile components in sidestream smoke were higher than those in mainstream smoke. For low sidestream cigarettes the total amounts of semi-volatile components in sidestream smoke was obviously lower than that in mainstream smoke. It was further confirmed that low sidestream cigarettes release lesser amounts of smoke into the environment as compared with the common commercial cigarettes.