Elastic net is an improvement of the least-squares method by introducing in L1 and L2 penalties, and it has the advantages of the variable selection. The quantitative analysis model build by Elastic net can improve the prediction accuracy. Using 89 wheat samples as the experiment material, the spectrum principal components of the samples were selected by Elastic net. The analysis model was established for the near-infrared spectrum and the wheat's protein content, and the feasibility of using Elastic net to establish the quantitative analysis model was confirmed. In experiment, the 89 wheat samples were randomly divided into two groups, with 60 samples being the model set and 29 samples being the prediction set. The 60 samples were used to build analysis model to predict the protein contents of the 29 samples, and correlation coefficient (R) of the predicted value and chemistry observed value was 0. 984 9, with the mean relative error being 2.48%. To further investigate the feasibility and stability of the model, the 89 samples were randomly selected five times, with 60 samples to be model set and 29 samples to be prediction set. The five groups of principal components which were selected by Elastic net for building model were basically consistent, and compared with the PCR and PLS method, the model prediction accuracies were all better than PCR and similar with PLS. In view of the fact that Elastic net can realize the variable selection and the model has good prediction, it was shown that Elastic net is suitable method for building chemometrics quantitative analysis model.