Abstract: A new column-chromatography separation method, which takes the packing loading silver ion as stationary phase, was developed to separate the various hydrocarbon components in heavy oils effectively. Tahe vacuum gas oil was separated into five components of saturates, light aromatics, middle aromatics, heavy aromatics and resin. Hydrocarbon types and carbon number distribution of components were characterized by GC-MS and GC-FI-TOFMS. Compared with the traditional two-adsorbent separation method, the new column-chromatography separation method improves the separation efficiency, and shortens the separation time to 4～5h. Contrasted with the patent separation method, the new column-chromatography separation method avoids the pollution of silver ion lost from stationary phase, and realizes the further separation and enrichment of aromatics. The content of mono-aromatics in light aromatic component, the content of di-aromatics in the middle aromatic component and the content of poly-aromatics in the heavy aromatic component are 74.3 %, 37.1 %, 65.9%, respectively.