The malodorous volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) from a typical municipal sewage treatment plant in Guangzhou were detected and analyzed using thermal-desorption/GC-MS and electronic nose, respectively. The results showed that: (1) Aromatic hydrocarbons were the main malodorous volatile organic compounds of the sewage treatment plant, with concentrations ranging from 96.61 microg x m(-3) to 818.03 microg x m(-3), accounting for more than 50% of the total MVOCs, much higher than other MVOCs species. (2) Volatile aromatic hydrocarbons (VAH) in municipal sewage treatment plant were mainly from domestic wastewater, and the sludge treatment process played an important part in release of these pollutants. The total concentration of aromatic hydrocarbons emitted from each processing unit in a descending order was: the sludge dehydration room > sludge thickener > aeration tank > grille > biochemical pool> grit chamber. (3) rincipal component analysis (PCA) was able to distinguish the characteristic of odor emission from each processing unit, with the recognition index reaching 71% , and the PCA recognition index of simulated gases which simulated the VAH levels of different processes reached 94% , indicating that there was big difference among the srmll of the VAH emitted from different processes. (4) The comparison of the original odor fingerprint and simulated odor fingerprint measured by the sensor T70/2 showed that the original odor fingerprint was greater than the simulated odor fingerprint, and the correlation analysis indicated that the VAH had a great contribution to the odor fingerprint of each unit, and the contribution of VAH odor of the aeration tank tq the original odor fingerprint reached 0. 98.