Abstract: A soil column leaching experiment was designed and conducted to investigate effect of simulated acid rain on release of cadmium from two kinds of red soils.The results show that acid rain can accelerate release of cadmium from red soils.The average release rate of cadmium was 1.6-1.7 times as high as the control under the impact of acid rain of pH 4.5,and 2.0-6.5 times when the acid rain was pH 3.5.After leaching with 9 150-10 650 mm acid rain of pH 4.5,the cumulative Cd release increased by 63.0%-80.0% and that of pH 3.5 by 102.7%-630.6%.The release of Cd was in significant or extremely significant correlation with the release of Al and Fe.The effect of acid rain on release of cadmium from soils can increase the load of cadmium in water,thus directly or indirectly undermining health of the people.