A method for the simple and rapid determination of monomethyl-, dimethyl-, trimethyl-, monobutyl-, dibutyl-, tributyl-, diphenyl- and triphenyltin in water has been developed by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) for the selective and sensitive detection of tin. A water sample was passed through a silica gel C₁₈ disposable column, and organotin compounds were recovered with tetrahydrofuran-acetic acid containing 0.5%m/V tropolone. The HPLC- AAS system consisted of a flame atomic absorption spectrometer with a long absorption tube connected directly to the high-performance liquid chromatograph which was fitted with a reversed-phase column. Recoveries of the above mentioned eight tin compounds spiked in water at 0.1 µg l^–1 as tin ranged from 63 to 96% and their relative standard deviations ranged from 6 to 12%. The detection limit recorded for these compounds (as tin) by this method was 0.03 µg l^–1.