The residual characteristics of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in 18surface soil (0~15cm) samples collected from the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yellow River were analyzed by GC-MS. The results showed that the concentrations of total PCBs in surface soil ranged from 0.43 to 39.83 ng/g dry weight (ng/g dw), with an average value of 3.72 ng/g dw, and the average PCBs level in this study was in a comparatively low level when compared with those in others regions. The toxic equivalency concentrations of dioxin-like PCBs (DL-TEQ)in surface soil ranged from 1.85 to 27.22 pg/g dw, with an average value of 15.24 pg/g dw. The DL-TEQ values were much lower than the corresponding limit values in other countries and rarely posed potential ecological risk. PCB18, PCB33, PCB49, PCB44 were identified as the prevalent contaminates of the surface soil. PCBs homologues analysis revealed that the PCBs in the study area were dominated by di-, tri-, tetra- and penta-chclorinated biphenys, indicating a relatively high proportion of lower PCBs. PCBs in surface soil might come from the Aroclor mixtures 1242, 1248, 1254 and 1260 and the transformer oil produced in China based on the principal component analysis (PCA).