Department of Chemistry, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China Manuscript received 19 March 1998, accepted 18 July 1998 The adsorptive voltammetric wave of the arginine-nickel(II) complex is observed in 0.02 M borax buffer solution whose pH is adjusted to 8.5 by nitric acid. The complex is adsorbed strongly on the surface of hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE), giving a sensitive reduction peak at -0.82 V (vs SCE). A linear relationship holds between derivative peak height and the arginine concentration in the range 1.0 x 10-8 to 1.0 x 10-6 mol dm-3.The detection limit is 5.0 x 10-9 mol dm-3. The method has been applied to the detection of arginine in food samples. The mechanism of electrode reaction is discussed.