Spectroscopy characterization of anthracene in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)/benzyl alcohol (BA)/water (H(2)O) microemulsion was studied by UV-visible absorption and fluorescence emission spectroscopy. The impact of the composition and structure of the microemulsion on spectroscopy characterization of anthracene were discussed. At the same time, we indicated the location of anthracene in microemulsion. The results indicated that in O/W microemulsion in SDS/BA/H(2)O system, anthracene exists both in the membrane phase and oil core, while in W/O microemulsion, anthracene exists in the oil continuous phase.