Orientation of azobenzene units in self-assembled muhilayer films of two side-chain azo polyelectrolytes was investigated by using polarized UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy．Several factors

such as the pH value of dipping solution．the length of flexible spacers and the functional degree of azo chromophores

on the orientation of chromophores in films were investigated．The results showed that the azo chromophores are prior to an in-plane orientation．The factors influencing polyelectrolyte conformation in the self-assembly solutions have significant influences on the orientation degree of azobenzene groups．Increasing the pH value or the length of flexible spacem and decreasing the degree of funetionalization can cause an increase of the ofientation degree of azobenzene chmmophores in the multilayers．Among the three factors

the results showed that the pH value of dipping solution has the most important infltlenee on the orientation of azo chmmophores in self-assembled films because it can directly affect the constellation of azo polyelectrolytes in solution．By adjusting the pH value．the orientation degree of azo chmmophores in self-assembled films can be controlled in a large scale range.