For the quantification of ginkgolic acids (GAs) within ginkgo products, a very effective liquid–liquid microextraction pretreatment method based on hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent (HDES) was created. The HPLC detection conditions for GAs were optimized before establishing the pretreatment method. Then, the DES composition, DES volume, sample amount, extraction temperature and time were investigated to obtain the optimal pretreatment conditions. This developed method had satisfactory analytical performance, the linearity was r2 = 0.9997, and its low limit of detection (LOD) was 0.81 mg/kg. The recovery value ranged from 95.10 % to 98.75 %. When compared with the Ch.P.2010 and EP10.0 recommended methods, this developed method gave a higher efficiency and showed obvious advantages. Furthermore, the developed method was effectively used to identify GAs in a variety of Ginkgo biloba medications, Ginkgo biloba leaves from various cultivars and collection times. These results highlighted the superiorities of the HDES-based liquid–liquid microextraction pretreatment technique for the measurement of GAs, providing insights for future development of efficient methods in active ingredients analysis.