Abstract: To study the effects of cigarette paper on reducing tar and harmful components in mainstream cigarette smoke, the cigarette paper samples with different parameters were prepared and used in cigarette manufacturing. The influences of eight cigarette paper parameters, including morphology, particle size, and content of calcium carbonate, acid radical type in combustion promoter, retention aid content, and the pattern, depth and pressing mode of marks on the harmful components in mainstream smoke and the hazard index (H) of cigarette were measured. The results showed that:1) The variation of the eight paper design parameters influenced the H value and the levels of seven harmful components in mainstream smoke to different extents. 2) Adopting a large size or liquid calcium carbonate or increasing calcium carbonate content were beneficial to reducing the levels of hydrogen cyanide and crotonaldehyde and the H value. 3) The H value with cigarette paper containing citric acid or tartaric acid was lower, and the retention aid content in cigarette paper had no significant effects on the harmful components and the H value. 4) Plain cigarette paper reduced the releases of hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and phenol and the H value. When the paper marks were pressed on the paper back, shallow marks decreased the releases of phenol and crotonaldehyde and the H value. When deep marks were made, the mode of pressing marks on the paper front reduced the relases of BaP and phenol and the H value.