Phthalates are commonly used as plasticizers in production of the plastics due to their physical and chemical properties. Because of their widespread use, they get easily into the environment. Phthalates have negative impact on ecosystem including the humans (e.g. they are disruptors of endocrine and reproductive system). Therefore, their monitoring in the environment is necessary. Various extraction techniques combined with gas or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detection are considered appropriate approaches in analysis of phthalates. Phthalates are ubiquitous compounds in analytical laboratory environment including ambient air, reagents, solvents, sampling equipment, and various analytical devices, which complicates severely their quantification. Therefore, for phthalate analysis, it is necessary to implement the quality assurance in the laboratory. Quantification of phthalates in various environmental matrices includes sampling, extraction and detection. This paper reviews the extensive literature data on the methods for analysis of phthalates in various environmental matrices such as water, soil, sediments, sludge, biota and air. Sample preparation techniques as well as chromatographic systems for phthalate quantification are described and compared.