In order to make full use of Litopenaeus vannamei's shrimp head,increase the economic value and discuss the influence of cooking on the flavor, the shirimp meat and heads were detected for amino acids, flavor nucleotides, volatile flavor compounds and the nutrients by the method of amino acid analyzer, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrography (GC/MS). The results showed that the protein content of head was significantly higher than that of meat, while the crude protein content decreased in cooked shrimp, but the difference was not significant. The contents of essential amino acid (EAA) and total free amino acid (TFAA) in head were significantly higher than those in meat and the main free amino acids were same (glycine, arginine, proline, alanine, threonine), and amino acids that contribute to flavor were more abundant in head; IMP had the highest content in meat and head, AMP took second place, and the taste activity values (TAV) of them were more than 1, which made a great contribution to umami flavor. Totally 88 volatile compounds were identified by GC/MS and compared for significant differences, the numbers of unique compounds in meat and head were 29 and 18 respectively. The differences of kinds and quantity led to special smell, and cooking produced mass aldehyde, ketone and aromatic compounds. Preliminary results showed that significant differences in the composition and content of amino acids, flavor nucleotides, volatile flavor compounds and nutrients observed between meat and head lead to different flavors.