A ternary complex system between titanium(IV), haematoxylin and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide is proposed for the determination of microgram amounts of titanium(IV). The system has a molar absorptivity of 3.5 × 104 l mol–1 cm–1 after half an hour of colour development. Tungsten(VI), aluminium(III), silver(I), lead(II), copper(II), zinc(II) and cadmium(II) do not interfere at a level of 1 mg. Interference from molybdenum(VI), antimony(V), chromium(VI), niobium(V), mercury(II) and manganese(II) at the same level and iron(III) and tin(IV) at a level of 0.5 mg can be eliminated by pre-extraction of the titanium, as the titanium-cupferron complex, into 4-methylpentan-2-one.