Abstract.A new method based on PGNAA technique has been proposed for moisture content and elements concentration determination in landfills. Due to the complexity of MSW component, the compounds of polyethylene balls, glass balls and water were selected as the MSW alternatives for research. By changing the proportion of polyethylene and glass ball, water contents of five samples were regulated to 40.522%, 47.575%, 55.168%, 63.369%, 72.251%, respectively. Based on a new set-up was developed to validate the method by MCNP simulations and experimental researches. The results show that the counts of hydrogen peak increase with the increase of the moisture content for samples, and good linearity can be figured out between the counts of hydrogen peak.