Abstract: To clarify the effects of filter ventilation on the releases of chemical components in mainstream cigarette smoke, a GC-MS method was used to analyze the distributions of gas and particulate phase components in mainstream smoke from cigarette samples of different circumferences. The effects of filter ventilation rate on the releases of mainstream smoke components from the cigarette samples were investigated. The results showed that: 1) The proportion of gas phase components in the coexisting gas and particulate phase components in mainstream smoke gradually increased with increasing filter ventilation rate. 2) There was a strong negative correlation between the reduction in the releases of the gas and particulate phase components and their boiling points, and the reduction in the releases of the particulate phase components were generally higher than those of the gas phase components in the mainstream smoke of the filter-ventilated cigarettes. 3) The average reduction in the releases of the gas phase components and coexisting gas and particulate phase components was higher than tar, while the average reduction in the releases of the particulate phase components was lower than that of tar. For the conventional cigarettes, the reduction in the releases of the gas phase components, coexisting gas and particulate phase components, and the particulate phase components increased with increasing filter ventilation rate. The proportions of different aroma components in mainstream cigarette smoke varied with filter ventilation. 4) As the boiling points of smoke components increased, the reduction in the releases of smoke components from cigarettes of different circumferences with filter ventilation first decreased, then increased, and finally decreased again. Under similar filter ventilation rates, the reduction in the releases of smoke components with higher boiling points differed more significantly from that of tar with decreasing cigarette circumference.