Aralia elata buds contain many nutrients and have a pleasant taste with unique flavor. Previous studies mainly focused on triterpene saponins in the root bark of this species, but little information existed concerning other chemical components, especially in the buds. To better understand the nutritional value of Aralia elata, we compared total flavonoids, total saponins, phenolic compounds and mineral elements contents in the buds of Aralia elata collected from eight different geographical regions (S1: Benxi; S2: Linjiang; S3: Pingwu; S4: Enshi; S5: Changbaishan; S6: Shangzhi; S7: Xiaoxinganling and S8: Harbin) in China. The results showed that the basic composition in the buds presented a wide variation noticed by ash (8.76 to 10.35%), crude fiber (5.38 to 11.07%), polysaccharides (33.85 to 46.79 mg/g), total flavonoid content (4.06 to 48.63 mg/g) and total saponins (13.62 to 27.85 mg/g). UPLC combined with LC-MS/MS method was used for the phenolic compounds analysis, and eleven phenolic compounds were identified and quantified in the 8 samples. The total phenolic content in Enshi (S4) was significantly higher than others, and quercetin was the predominant phenolic compound in this sample. We used ICP-OES to identify and quantify nine mineral elements in the buds. The Fe and Cu contents in S5 were much higher than that of others. We got maximum Mg, Mn, Co and Ni contents in S4, and found rich Zn content in S7. Moreover, the maximum estimated quantity of Ca and Sr contents were found in S8. This study indicated that the chemical composition in the buds of Aralia elata was obviously affected by geographical origin. Our results provided an essential theoretical basis on quality evaluation of Aralia elata buds in food production field.