Twenty-five water sampling sites in Lake Baiyangdian were selected to investigate the characteristics of water quality in January 2019, including primitive area, tourist rea, living area, aquaculture area and enter area. Temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N), nitrous oxide nitrogen (NO₂^--N), nitrate nitrogen (NO₃^--N), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), permanganate index were used as factors to evaluate water quality based on the single factor evaluation method, comprehensive pollution index (K) method and principal component analysis method, respectively. The results indicated that temperature of the lake had a minor fluctuation, the DO exhibited a huge variation, TN and TP presented high concentrations during the freezing period in Lake Baiyangdian. The single factor evaluation showed that when TN was used for evaluation, Class Ⅲ water bodies accounted for 28%, and the rest were Class Ⅳ, Class Ⅴ and lower Ⅴ among the 25 sampling points. When TP was used, Class Ⅲ water bodies accounted for 16%, and the rest were IV, Class V and lower V. Overall, the quality of Lake Baiyangdian water was relatively poor. The comprehensive pollution index method showed that water quality in the living area was better, while the enter area was worse. The water quality of Baigou River, Fuhe River and Puhe River were the worst among all sampling sites, which belonged to heavy pollution rivers involved to TN and TP. The principal component analysis indicated that the six rivers of the sedimentation area had large deviations in water quality and pollution influencing factors. TN and TP were highly correlated with PCA1 and PCA2 in the physical and chemical indicators. Overall, the evaluation combined qualitative and quantitative methods showed that the TN and TP were the main limiting factor in freezing period of Lake Baiyangdian. From all the results, the freezing period is important for lake water bodies, probing the source of pollution and controlling it can significantly improve the water quality of the lake. The series of researches not only offers the best opportunity for the treatment of water, but also provides guidance for the treatment and restoration of water pollution in Lake Baiyangdian.