Systematic studies were performed on SnCl2-mediated carbonyl allylation reaction between aldehydes and allyl halides in fully aqueous media. Totally three valuable reaction systems were discovered, which were SnCl2/CuCl2, SnCl2/TiCl3, and SnCl2/PdCl2. They all provided good to excellent yields in the allylation of aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes under very mild and convenient conditions. SnCl2, by itself, was also found to be effective for the ...