Abstract: OBJECTIVE To establish a fast and nondestructive detection method on the content of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) in Corni Fructus by near infrared spectrometry, and used to identify the processing degree rapidly. METHODS The quantitative model was built based on partial least square method with 54 samples, and then the models were optimized. Nine samples were used for content prediction. RESULTS The determination coefficient of the calibration models was 0.925 6, ratio of prediction to deviation was 5.06, root mean square error of cross validation was 0.022 0, and root mean square error of prediction was 0.019 3, these results indicated the correlation between the predicted values and the true values was good. CONCLUSION This method can be applied in rapid quantitative analysis of 5-HMF in the samples of Corni Fructus and identification of their processing degree. The method has the advantages of simple, rapid, nondestructive, accurate and safety.