The degree of cadmium (Cd) uptake and transport in plants and its ecological risk are largely determined by the chemical form it takes in soils. In risk assessment of Cd contaminated farmland soils two urgent issues need to be addressed: risk assessment based on the effective form of Cd in soil, and formulation of safety threshold values for heavy metal remediation. Currently, although many effective chemical extraction methods are available for heavy metal remediation, there lacks a versatile extraction method for bioavailable Cd in soils with different soil properties. In this study, farmland soil samples of nine soil types in China are collected for soil culture and pot experiments using rice, Chinese cabbage, and corn as test crops. Chromium contaminated soil samples are prepared by exogenous addition methods. Overall, five commonly used chemical extraction methods—neutral inorganic salt (CaCl₂), weak acid (HCl), chelating agent (DTPA, ETPA), and combined (Mehlich-3, or M3) extraction methods—are tested to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of these methods for Cd extraction under different soil types and the relationship between Cd extracted from soils and Cd accumulation in crops, with the goal of finding an extraction method that is widely applicable in different soil types. Chromium bioavailability determined by different methods differed significantly (p<0.05), and the extraction rates (%) followed the order of DTPA≈EDTA≈HCl>M3≈CaCl₂. Through comprehensive correlation analysis, the comprehensive correlation coefficients (I_p) between Cd extracted from soil and Cd uptake in the shoots of crops were calculated for each method, yielding I_M3=0.765, I_EDTA=0.641, I_DTPA=0.627, I_HCl=0.606, $I_{CaCl_{2}}=0.711$. Thus, M3 was considered a versatile extraction method which showed the highest I_p values for rice, Chinese cabbage, and corn in soils with different soil properties. The above results provide a theoretical basis for the evaluation of Cd bioavailability in farmland soils and remediation of Cd contaminated farmland.