The methods of acid-base washing procedure and Klason procedure were used to measure the content of cellulose and lignin of eight different habitats of Arundo donax respectively, and the contents of cellulose and lignin of two populations of Arundo donax at different stages of growth were measured in order to explicate the relation between the stage of growth, the populations and the content of cellulose and lignin, and therefore providing evidence for exploiting Arundo donax. The results showed that: (1) in the same population, the contents of cellulose and lignin from the highest to the lowest were all stem, branch and leave. (2) As for the stems of all samples, the contents of cellulose from the highest to the lowest were the habitats of Shengzhou of Zhejiang Province, Xijie of Nanjing, Hengyang of Hunan, Cixi of Zhejiang, Funing of Jiangsu, Tongren of Guizhou and Eryuan of Yunnan Province. The sample of Shengzhou had the highest cellulose content which was 49.2%. (3) From the highest content of lignin to the lowest, they were habitats of Hengyang in Hunan Province, Eryuan of Yunnan, Xijie of Nanjing, Tongren of Guizhou, Shengzhou of Zhejiang, Funing of Jiangsu, Hengyang of Hunan and Cixi of Zhejiang Province. Stems in Fenghuang had the highest lignin contents, which was 27.7%. (4) The contents of cellulose and lignin from eight populations increased at different degrees with the growth of time, and they increased very fast in 2-6 months, and then increased very slowly.