Based on the data of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) collected continuously from 1st Mar, 2011 to 29th Feb, 2012 in the northern suburb of Nanjing, characteristics of their variability, differences of ratios of tracers and source apportionment by principal component analysis/absolute principal component scores (PCA/APCS) were analyzed. The results showed that the total VOCs mixing ratios were 43.52 x 10(-9), which accounted for 45.1% of alkanes, alkenes for 25.3%, alkyne for 7.3%, and aromatics for 22.3%. There was an obviously seasonal variation of VOCs, with the maximum in summer and the minimum in winter. There was an obvious seasonal variation of VOCs component, with highest alkanes in winter, highest alkenes in summer, highest aromatic in spring, and highest alkyne in winter. By using the specific pollutant ratios ( hydrocarbons/acetylene and toluene/benzene) method, it indicated that the observation site was greatly affected by the surrounding industrial areas. Source analysis of VOCs by PCA/APCS mode showed that the sources consisted of industrial production sources, automobile emission sources, combustion sources, industrial production volatilization sources, solvent use sources and biogenic emission sources. In addition, there were seasonal variations. Overall, the sources related to industrial production activities represented 45% - 63% of VOCs, and they were followed by automobile emission sources, which represented 34% - 50%.