In order to improve the determination efficiency of ammonia (NH₃) in mainstream cigarette smoke, ion chromatography (IC) method described in the current standard (YC/T 377—2010) was improved, meanwhile NH₃ deliveries in mainstream cigarette smoke under ISO and Health Canada (HC) smoking regimes were compared. The results showed that: 1) with CS16 column under an isocratic elution with 50 mmol/L of methane sulfonic acid (MSA) as mobile phase at the flow rate of 0.60 mL/min, the determination of NH₃ in one single sample could be completed within 15 minutes; 2) the recoveries of NH₃ ranged from 97.53 % to 99.13 % with the relative standard deviation (RSD) lower than 5 %; 3) the NH₃ delivery in mainstream smoke of cigarette smoked under HC regime was significantly higher than that under ISO regime.