A simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of yttrium in Y-Al alloys has been developed. The method is based on the extraction of ternary ion-association complex yttrium-5, 7-diiodoquinoline-8-ol-Rhodamine 6G into toluene that has an absorption maximum at 540 nm. Beer's law is obeyed over the range 0-20 mug of yttrium and the molar absorptivity coefficient is 5.3x10(5) L mol(-1) cm(-1). The ternary ion-association complex in toluene is stable for about 2 h.