Abstract: Objective To study the relationship between serum trace elements and renal cell carcinoma. Methods The serum concentrations of multi-elements in 30 patients with renal cell carcinoma and 26 healthy volunteers were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS). The results were analyzed by partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and Fisher discriminant. Results Compared with healthy volunteers, the levels of vanadium(5 034.56 ng/L : 4 401.23 ng/L), cobalt(211.34 ng/L:158.67 ng/L), nickel(1 850.55 ng/L:1 587.12 ng/L), manganese(1 873.35 ng/L:932.68 ng/L) and cadmium(95.63 ng/L:36.43 ng/L) were significant higher in patients with renal cell carcinoma (P<0.05). While, the concentrations of calcium(10.83 mg/L :11.78 mg/L) and zinc(67.11 μg/L: 70.92 μg/L) were significant lower (P <0.05). The scores plot showed distinct clustering between patients and controls. The classification accuracy of Fisher discriminant function was 97.8%.Conclusion Trace elements in serum are significantly different in patients with renal cell carcinoma and healthy volunteers. Discriminant analysis of serum samples based on trace element levels is possible. Thus, it is feasible for early diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma by determination of trace elements and discriminant analysis.