An analytical method was established by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for the simultaneous determination of the contents of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in infant formula. This method was applied to survey the levels of PAHs pollution of 45 infant formula samples sold online. The sample pretreatment procedure was optimized and the figures of merit of the method including linearity, precision and spiked recovery were examined. The external standard method was used for quantitation. The linearity of the method was good in the concentration range of 1–100 ng/ mL (r > 0.999), and the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.01–0.10 μg/ kg. The average recoveries at spiked concentration levels of 5, 10 and 50 μg/kg were in the range of 76.2%–103.1%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) for precision was less than 10%. The detection rate of PAHs was 86.7% from 15 infant formula samples for babies of 0–6 months at levels of 0–1.12 μg/kg. The detection rate of PAHs was 80.0% from 15 infant formula samples for babies of 6–12 months at levels of 0–0.75 μg/kg. The detection rate of PAHs was 60% from 15 infant formula samples for babies of 12–36 months at levels of 0–0.60 μg/kg.