A selective procedure for spectrophotometric determination of selenium with 6-amino-1-naphthol-3-sulphonic acid (J-acid) is described. In acidic conditions selenium forms a yellow complex with J-acid which has an absorption maximum at 392 nm. The molar absorptivity is 1.48 x 10(4) 1 mol(-1)cm(-1). Beer's law is obeyed for selenium in the range of 0.08-0.8 mg/1. The method has been applied to the determination of trace amounts of selenium in water, polluted water, plant material and steel plant dust. The proposed method is sensitive, rapid, simple and accurate.