Objective To explore the mental health status of college students in the Xining region. Methods A total of 1 875 college students were surveyed by the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ).Results Out of the 1 875 college students, 21.5% had at least one item scoring more than 3. Compared with the normal samples, college students scored significantly higher on SCL-90 indicating that the students had worse mental health. Significant differences were noted in the dimensions of EPQ between college students and the normal samples. The total score of SCL-90 was found to be significantly related to four factors, namely neuroticism, family economic status, school and nationality. Conclusion The mental health status of college students in Xining region is lower than that of the normal population, and factors of neuroticism, family economic status, school and nationality are related to their mental health.