A systematic method was developed for the analyses of 15 kinds of artificial dyes and 19 kinds of natural dyes in foods. Dyes were extracted from the sample with water and dichloromethane. Water soluble dyes in the aqueous extract were purified and fractionated into fractions I and II by use of polyamide. Oil soluble dyes in the dichloromethane extract were purified and fractionated into fractions III-V by liquid-liquid partition, silica gel column and alumina column chromatographies. The dyes in each fraction were identified by thin-layer chromatography. This method was applied for the detection of artificial and natural dyes in various commercial foods.