Twelve carbonyl flavor samples were added into cut tobacco and filter tips of cigarettes and then analyzed by simultaneous distillation and extraction coupled with GC and GC/MS to determine the ratios of flavor retained in tobacco rod or filter, migrated to cut tobacco or filter and transferred into mainstream cigarette smoke. The results showed that: 1) the retention ratios of the flavors injected into cut tobacco were lower than those added in filters, while their migration ratios from cut tobacco to filter were higher than those from filters to cut tobacco; 2) filter flavoring facilitated the flavor with lower boiling point to transfer into cigarette mainstream smoke; 3) the higher the boiling point, the greater the transfer ratio for isomeric carbonyl flavors, such as phenylacetaldehyde and acetophenone, caprylic aldehyde and 2-octanone, 2-Heptanone, heptanal and 2,5-Hexanedione.