Abstract: Sensory-oriented analysis was carried out to investigate the key sweet taste components in the extract of cured tobacco of a robust flavor style. The leaf extract was separated by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), the taste character of each separated fraction was estimated, and the sweet taste characteristic component(STCC) in the extract was obtained by categorization. A quantitative method based on HPLC-ELSD was developed to determine the contents of four sweet components (glucose, fructose, inositol and sucrose) in the STCC. On the basis of quantitative data, mixed solutions of the four sweet components were recombined, and the taste dilution analysis (TDA) of STCC and the recombined solutions were conducted. The taste thresholds of the four sweet components in water were determined by three-alternative forced-choice (3-AFC) method, in addition their taste activity values (TAVs) were calculated by taking their contents in STCC into account, and their sweetness was compared. The results showed that the four sweet components were the main factors determining the taste characteristics of STCC. According to their TAVs and sweetness, the four sweet taste components were ranked in the order of their contribution to sweet taste: fructose, sucrose > glucose > inositol.