The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of the salvianolic acids reference extract for quality control for Salvia miltiorrhiza and salvianolic acids for injection. An Agilent ZORBAX SB-C18( 4. 6 mm×250 mm,5 μm) column was used with mobile phase consisting of 0. 1% formic acid-water and 0. 1% formic acid-acetonitrile in gradient elution procedure. The column temperature was 30 ℃; the flow rate was 1 m L·min-1; and the detection wavelength was 288 nm. The content of rosmarinic acid,lithospermic acid and salvianolic acid B in S. miltiorrhiza was determined by using the salvianolic acids reference extract as control substance. The content of caffeic acid,salvianolic acid E,rosmarinic acid,lithospermic acid,salvianolic acid B,and salvianolic acid Y in the salvianolic acids for injection was also determined. The linear relationship between chemicals was good( r>0. 998 9),and the injection precision RSD was 0. 30%-0. 90%. The sexual RSD is between 1. 4% and 3. 0%,and the RSD of the reproducibility of the extract is between 2. 1% and 5. 2%. The recovery rate of the three components in S. miltiorrhiza was 96. 80%-99. 20%,and the recovery rate of the six components in salvianolic acids for injection was 88. 90%-107. 5%. The solution of S. miltiorrhiza and salvianolic acids for injection were stable within 48 h. A total of 8 batches of S. miltiorrhiza and injection were determined by the reference extract,and the difference was smaller than that measured by the monomer control. This study preliminarily verified that the salvianolic acids reference extract can be used as a substitute for the monomer control for the quality control of S. miltiorrhiza and salvianolic acids for injection.