Abstract: The invention relates the preparation of (meth)acrylic acid comprising the steps: i) bringing a composition Z1 comprising (meth)acrylic acid and aldehydes into contact with an aldehyde-trapping agent to give a composition Z2 comprising (meth)acrylic acid, the high-boiling reaction product of the aldehyde, and the aldehyde-trapping agent, and unreacted aldehyde-trapping agent; ii) separating off (meth)acrylic acid from the composition Z2 by means of distillation, whereby a composition Z3 comprising the high-boiling reaction product from the reaction between the aldehyde and the aldehyde-trapping agent and unreacted aldehyde-trapping agent is being obtained as the bottom product; iii) extracting the unreacted aldehyde-trapping agent from the composition Z3 by water, a first, aqueous phase P1 and a second, organic phase P2 being obtained; iv) separating off of the first, aqueous phase P1 from the second, organic phase P2.