An electrochemical method based on potentiometric stripping analysis (PSA) employing a cryptand [2.2.1] (CRY) and carbon nanotube (CNT) modified paste electrode (CRY-CNT-PE) has been proposed for the sub-nanomolar determination of bismuth. The characterization of the electrode surface has been carried out by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and chronocoulometry (CC). It was observed that by employing CRY-CNT-PE, a 9-fold enhancement in the PSA signal (dt/dE) was observed as compared to plain carbon paste electrode (PCPE). Under the optimized conditions, dt/dE (s/V) was proportional to the Bi(111) concentration in the range of 5.55 x 10(-8) to 9.79 x 10(-11) M (r = 0.9990) with the detection limit (S/N = 3) of 3.17 x 10(-11) M. The practical analytical utilities of the modified electrode were demonstrated by the determination of bismuth in pharmaceutical formulations, human hair, sea water, urine and blood serum samples. The prepared modified electrode showed several advantages, such as a simple preparation method, high sensitivity, very low detection limits and excellent reproducibility. Moreover, the results obtained for bismuth analysis in commercial and real samples using CRY-CNT-PE and those obtained by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) are in agreement at the 95% confidence level. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.