Department of Chemistry, Punjabi University, Patiala-147 002, India E-mail : aljrao@rediffmail.com Manuscript received 12 November 2002, revised 23 April 2003, accepted 6 May 2003 A new, rapid, sensitive and selective method has been developed for the determination of ziram and zineb using 1-(2- thiazolylazo)-2-naphthol (TAN) as the complexing reagent in the pH range of 8.0-8.5 in the presence of octylphenolpoly(ethylene glycol) ether i.e. Triton X-100. The violet complex shows λmax, at 580 nm. The molar absorptivity is 7.52 x 104 dm3 mol-1 cm-1 for ziram and zineb and Sandell's sensitivity 0.0040 and 0.0036 µg cm-2 for ziram and zineb, respectively. The method has been used for direct determination of ziram and zineb in synthetic mixtures, commercial for­mulations and crops residue.