Abstract: During the oil extraction process, liquid hold-up is one of the key factors in influencing the effect of polymer flooding. Directing at the application conditions limitation of water- soluble polymer on site, the dynamical hold up law of polyacrylamide solution in artificial core was conducted with starch-cadmium iodide colorimetry in this paper, and the effect of kaolin clay, surfactant on liquid hold up was inspected. The results show that the retention volume of polymer was decreased when surfactant have been contained in the solution, on the other hand, the exist of kaolin clay in solution raised retention volume of polymer in the core, and the hold- up volume was increased with the increasing of kaolin content. When both the surfactant and polymer were included in solution, these two would react to each other which resulted in competitive adsorption in rock surface and reduced their effective content. So, in order to enhance the flooding efficiency, the concentration of surfactant and polymer should adjust based on the contribution of the two to EOR and their differences of adsorption and liquid hold up.