A reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) has been developed for the quantitative analysis of hupehenine in the total alkaloids from Fritillaria hupehensis. Samples were analyzed on a reverse-phase column (Hypersil C-18) with a mobile phase of methanol:water:chloroform: triethylamine (85:15:1:0.6). The ELSD was set at the drift tube temperature of 68.3 degrees C and gas flow rate of 1.8 L/min. Hupehenine's retention time was 13.7 min with an asymmetry factor of 1.2. The validity of the method has been verified with linearity, limit of detection, accuracy and precision. The logarithmic linear curve was obtained from 8.936 to 134.04 microg/mL (r=0.9993). The detection limit (S/N>3) of hupehenine was 1.79 microg/mL on the column. Intra-day RSD was 1.42% and inter-day RSD was 2.26% (3 days within a week). The average recovery of hupehenine was 101.50%, and RSD was 1.62%.