Multivariate methods were conducted to determine canonical and simple correlations between the water–soluble carbohydrate (fructose, glucose and sucrose) and the neutral aroma components in flue–cured tobacco. The results indicated that the first canonical correlation between the content of the three tested water–soluble sugars and plastid pigments, browning reaction products, aromatic catabolites aroma components achieved a remarkable level of 1%; the second canonical correlation coefficient of the three neutral aroma components and the first canonical correlation coefficient of cembratriendiol both achieved a remarkable level of 5%. These correlations depended mainly on the correlation between megastigmatrienone 2, megastigmatrienone3, β–dihydrodamascone, 6–methyl–5–hepten–2–one, 5–methyl furfural, 2–acetyl furan, 4–vinyl–2–methoxyphenol, 6–methyl–5–hepten–2–ol and the water–soluble carbohydrate. The water–soluble carbohydrate was negatively correlated with plastid pigments, aromatic catabolites and cembratriendiol, positively correlated with browning reaction products. Water–soluble reducing sugar showed close relationship with cembratriendiol and aroma components from aromatic catabolites, their coordination could be conducive to improving the quality of flue–cured tobacco.