Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectroscopy (EEMs) was parsed, using parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) to parse the model, to examine the fluorescent components and their distributing variations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) sampled from the nearby sea area of Zhangzi island. The identified components in different seasons were almost similar, including humic-like components C1(265/440 nm), C2(410～450/520～550 nm) and protein-like component C3(230, 280/330 nm), and the good linearity proved that they had the same sources or some relationships. Furthermore, all of the 3 components in different water layers and different seasons showed higher fluorescence intensity around the Zhangzi island. The relationships of the 3 components with chlorophyll-a and salinity were discussed, and the results showed that DOM in the study area depended on phytoplankton and the input from human activities. The results demonstrate the capability of the combination of EEMs and PARAFAC for characterizing fluorescence of DOM.