Taking softened radish pickles as research object, the present study explored the differences in physicochemical property and flavor substance of normal pickles and pickles with different softness, determined the flavor and analyzed the main ingredients of pickles with eadspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromate graphy-mass spectrometry, HS-SPME-GC-MS. The experimental results showed that the acidity and salinity of softened pickles were higher than those of normal pickles. The texture index, sensory evaluation of normal pickles were all better than softened pickles, and the 4 kinds of pickles were all yellowish green. 41, 32, 37 and 30 volatile ingredients were detected in normal pickles and 3 kinds of pickles with different softness. The dimethyl trisulfide is the flavor substance to distinguish normal pickles and softened pickles. Meanwhile, the characteristic flavor substance of seriously softened pickles is glycolaldehyde dimethyl acetal, and its relative content is 32.09%. With the softening of the pickles, the quality was becoming worse gradually.