[Aim]  Sex pheromones, as a trapping technology, is specific, efficient, and highly specialized for insects, and have been widely used in pest monitoring and management at home and abroad. In this paper, we focused on the Gynaephora qinghaiensis, and the effective active components from sex pheromone glands of virgin female moths of G. qinghaiensis was extracted and componential analysis, so as to provide scientific basis for green control of this pest insect. [Methods]  The volatiles released by female moths from sex pheromone glands were collected by solvent extraction. The extracts were obtained using four organic cosolvents, namely hexane, dichloromethane, methanol and ethyl acetate, respectively. The main components of extracts were separated and identified by using a gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) combined with comparative analysis for the total ion chromatograph (TIC). And the behavioral responses of virgin male moths to bioactive components from sex pheromone glands of virgin female moths of G. qinghaiensis were tested using Y-tube olfactometer. [Results]  The Y-tube olfactometer behavior selection experiments verified that crude extract using four different organic solvent about sex pheromone glands of virgin female moths were all attractive to the males (P<0.01). The attraction effect showed that the crude extraction of ethyl acetate attracted the greatest number of males, with the average number of (8.40±0.55) male moths. There were totally 55 compounds in the pheromone-gland extract of female G. qinghaiensis identified through GC-MS. Hexadecanoic acid methyl ester, n-hexadecanoic acid, 9,12,15-octadecatrienal, (Z)-9-octadecenoic acid methyl ester and octadecanoic acid, as the special components in the sexual gland extracts of single virgin female moths, were with a retention time of 11.36, 11.85, 13.07, 13.50 and 14.79 min, respectively. It was found that sole utilizing of above five compounds all had attractive effects for male moths, with the greatest attractant effect by using n-Hexadecanoic acid or 9,12,15-octadecatrienal alone, the average attraction number of male moths reached to (8.00±0.71) and (6.40±1.14) respectively; the binary mixture of hexadecanoic acid methyl ester and 9,12,15-octadecatrienal at the ratio of 1∶1 also had an effect on male moths attractions, and the average attraction number of male moths reached to (5.60±0.55). [Conclusion]  The identification of compounds in sex pheromone glands of female moths of G. qinghaiensis was accomplished, the major component of 9,12,15-octadecatrienal used alone or in combination with hexadecanoic acid methyl ester all had strong attraction effect on male moths G. qinghaiensis. The results of research are of great important for the development of sex attractants.