A method for solid phase extraction (SPE) of gold(III) using Dowex M 4195 chelating resin has been developed. The optimum experimental conditions for the quantitative sorption of gold(III), pH, effect of flow rates, eluent types, sorption capacity and the effect of diverse ions on the sorption of gold(III) have been investigated. The chelating resin can be reused for more than 100 cycles of sorption-desorption without any significant change in sorption of gold(III) ions. The recovery values for gold(III) and detection limit (LOD) of gold were greater than 95% and 1.61 mu g L-1, respectively. The preconcentration factor was 31. The relative standard deviation of the method was <5%. The adsorption capacity of the resin was 8.1 mg g(-1). The proposed method has been applied for the determination of gold(III) in some real samples including water, soil and sediment samples. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.