Objective To verificate and evaluate four different diagnostic criteria of adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD). Methods Seventy AOSD patients admitted in Zhongshan Hospital afflicated Fudan University from Jan. 2003 to Dec. 2009 were enrolled. Another 140 non-AOSD patients with fever were selected as the control. Four different diagnostic criteria (Calabro, ARA, Cush and Yamaguchi) of AOSD were applied to all patients. Results The specificities of four different classification criteria were all high. The sensitivity (78.6%) and accuracy (87.1%) of Yamaguchi criteria were the highest. The specificity of ARA criteria was the highest (99.3%), so was its accuracy (83.3%). Conclusions It is appropriate to use Yamaguchi criteria for diagnosis of AOSD at present.