Total phenols of water chestnut shells （Trapa natans Linn. shells） from 11 provinces （autonomous regions） were extracted， and their total phenols content were analyzed. Their antioxidant activity and inhibitory effect on αglucosidase activity were also compared. The results show that total phenols contents of tested samples are 8.15-54.54 mg·g^-1， and DPPH· scavenging rate， ABTS⁺· scavenging rate， and α-glucosidase activity inhibition rate of their total phenols extracts are 33.76％-80.60％， 22.54％-70.19％， and 29.09％-78.02％， respectively. All indexes of samples from Jiaxing of Zhejiang are the highest and show significant differences （P＜0.05） with those of samples from other locations in general， indicating that there are differences in total phenols content and antioxidant activity and inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase activity of total phenols extracts of water chestnut shells from different locations. The correlation analysis result shows that total phenols content in water chestnut shells shows significantly positive correlations with DPPH· scavenging rate， ABTS⁺· scavenging rate， and α-glucosidase activity inhibition rate of total phenols extracts， and correlation coefficients are 0.788， 0.916， and 0.977， respectively， suggesting that total phenols might be the major components responsible for antioxidant activity and inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase activity of water chestnut shells.