An improved method has been developed for the determination of clavulanate potassium, tazobactam and sulbactam in dairy products. High performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector (HPLC-PAD) was used in this method. The separation was performed on a CAPCELL PAK MG-C18 column (150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm). The mobile phase was 0.03% (volume fraction unless otherwise specified) phosphate-acetonitrile. This method offered effective sample preparation procedures including dissolution with water, protein isolation with acetone, clean-up and enrichment by solid-phase extraction (SPE) with PWAX cartridges (60 mg/3 mL) under weak acidic condition and further elution with 0.05% ammonia-methanol solution. The analytical method was well validated and good results were obtained with the RSDs of 2.2% - 7.4% and the recoveries of 84.6% - 101.7%. The detection limits of clavulanate potassium, tazobactam and sulbactam were 0.03 mg/L. All of the target compounds exhibited good linearities (r > 0.999) over the mass concentration range of 0.05 - 5 mg/L. With the advantages of good purification effect, high sensitivity, good recovery and repeatability, the method is suitable for the detection of beta-lactamase inhibitors in dairy products.