Speciation of bio-available chromium in soils was performed using extraction with 0.05M EDTA followed by strong anionic solid-phase extraction. The step gradient elution technique with 0.1 and 0.5M NaCl as eluent in sequence was sufficient to separate Cr(III) and Cr(VI) with recoveries of 99.7 and 93.4%, respectively. During the determination of separated chromium species by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS), 10% ammonium nitrate solution was co-injected with the sample to eliminate the interferences from the eluent matrix containing high concentrations of chloride. Linear calibration curves over the range of 0–15ngmL −1 were obtained with good correlation coefficients (R 2 =0.9976 for Cr(III)EDTA − , and 0.9897 for Cr(VI)). The sum of the chromium species determined after separation was in good agreement with total chromium from EDTA extraction of NIST soil standard SRM2709 (0.688μgg −1 Cr(III), 0.127μgg −1 Cr(VI), 0.742μgg −1 total Cr) and a local soil sample (0.030μgg −1 Cr(III), 0μgg −1 Cr(VI), 0.053μgg −1 total Cr).