Objective: To establish a microwave digestion-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry assay for simultaneous determination of multiple elements in placenta. Methods: Fresh placental tissues were dried at 60 ℃ for 15 h and ground into power. Then, 0.3 g homogenized samples were digested in a microwave digestion system. The interference from mass spectrometry was removed using the kinetic energy discrimination model in the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and the baseline interference was removed by online internal standards. The contents of 17 elements were determined in placental specimens using the established microwave digestion -inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry assay, including V, Ni, Co, Fe, Cr, Cu, Zn, Mn, As, Sn, Sb, Ba, Se, Cd, Pb, Hg and Tl. Results: Good linearity was shown for V, Ni, Co, Cr, As, Se, Cd, Pb and Tl at 1 to 50 µg/L, Fe at 100 to 5 000 µg/L, Zn, Cu, Mn and Ba at 10 to 500 µg/L, Sn and Sb at 0.1 to 5 µg/L, and Hg at 0.2 to 2 µg/L, with all correlation coefficients of 0.999 8 and higher. The detection limits of these 17 elements ranged from 0.5 to 100 μg/kg, with relative standard deviations of 2.1% to 6.5%, and recovery rates of 83.3% to 110.0%. The determination results of 17 elements were all within the normal reference range defined in the certified reference materials of chicken (GBW10018). Conclusions The microwave digestion-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry established based on optimized pretreatments and mass spectrometry detection conditions, is feasible for simultaneous determination of multiple elements in placenta.