OBJECTIVE: To compare the advantages and disadvantages and application range of three methods for detection of urinary mercury. These methods include alkaline stannous chloride cold atomic absorption spectrometry, acid stannous chloride cold atomic absorption spectrometry and atomic fluorescence spectrometry. METHODS: The detection limits, accuracy and precision in these three methods were compared. RESULTS: The alkaline stannous chloride cold atomic absorption method and acidic stannous chloride cold atomic absorption method had a wide linear range(1.000-10.000 μg/L). The detection limit was high(0.265 and 0.556 μg/L, respectively). The atomic fluorescence spectrometry had the narrowest linear range(0.400-2.000 μg/L) and the lowest detection limit(0.048 μg/L). The average spiked recoveries of the above three methods were 95.93%-101.02%, 92.49%-98.72% and 95.96%-99.57%. The relative standard deviations within and between batches of these three methods were less than 5.00%. The addition recovery of organic mercury by alkaline cold chloride atomic absorption method was 80.91%. The recoveries of inorganic mercury and organic mercury by other methods were close to 100.00%. CONCLUSION: All three methods meet the daily needs of detecting urinary mercury. Among them, alkaline stannous chloride cold atomic absorption method is suitable for promotion in primary laboratories as a preliminary screening method. The atomic fluorescence spectrometry is suitable for the detection of microscale and trace amount of urinary mercury.