Abstract: Serious environmental problems occurred on the coast of the Shandong peninsula, particularly pollution from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The distribution, sources and ecological risk assessment of 16 PAHs in 62 sites of surface sediments from the Shandong coast have been investigated. Results show that the total concentrations of 16 PAHs in surface sediments from the coastal zones range from 0.06 to 3191.40 ng/g with an average of 262.08 ng/g. Except for a few sites, the concentration of PAHs was relatively lower than that in other areas around the world. The PAHs of the study area originated from mixed petroleum leakage, oil combustion, incomplete combustion of carbon, wood and fossil fuels indicated by the selected ratios of PAHs, the two-tailed Pearson correlation analysis and principal components analysis. The ecological risk assessed by the effects range-low (ERL) and the effects range-median (ERM) indicates little negative effect from surface sediments on the coast of the Shandong peninsula. However, acenaphthene and fluorenein in the sites of Laizhou Bay, Weihai and the Qingdao coast may pose a potential risk to the environment. In conclusion, the negative effects of 16 PAHs in the surface sediments from the Shandong peninsula were weak and easily controlled.