The electrochemical behavior of cadmium ions at hydroxyapatite modified carbon paste electrode (HAP-CPE) is reported. The electrode paste was prepared as a mixture of finely powdered hydroxyapatite (HAP) together with graphite powder. The influence of variables such as the accumulation time, pH solution and apatite loading was tested by square wave voltammetry (SWV). The best results were obtained under the following optimized conditions: 5 min accumulation time, 5 mV pulse amplitude, 1 mV s(-1) scan rate in 1.0 mol L-1 HClO4. The electrochemical responses obtained by SWV at HAP-CPE were found to be analytically suitable to develop a method for the determination of cadmium at low concentration levels. Under optimized operational conditions, a linear response range from 2 x 10(-8) mol L-1 to 2.5 x 10(-5) mol L-1 was obtained. The detection limit for cadmium determination was 4.0 x 10(-9) mol L-1. The proposed sensor presented good repeatability, evaluated in terms of relative standard deviation (R.S.D. = 3.8%) for n = 5 and was applied for cadmium determination in water samples. The average recovery for these samples was 104%. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.