Surface soil samples were collected from Suzhou, Wuxi and Nantong in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China. Eight BDE congeners (BDE-28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154, 183 and 209) were measured to determine the levels and compositional profiles in the samples. The concentrations of Σ7PBDEs and BDE-209 ranged from 0.04 to 2.23 μg/kg dw and 1.48 to 41.7 μg/kg dw in the samples, respectively. BDE-209 was the predominant congener (contributing to 69.2 %–99.8 % of Σ8PBDEs) in all samples. It was found that small towns and rural economic development zones in this region had also become sources of polybrominated diphenyl ethers pollutants to surrounding areas. Investigation of the pattern of BDE congener profiles showed that deca- and octa- technical formulations as emission sources were identified in the samples collected from the YRD.