Abstract: A method for determination of barium in solid wastes by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry was studied. The optimal measurement conditions of the graphite tube type, heating program and acid digestion system were determined, and the feasibility of this method validated by test of actual samples. The results showed that with pyrolytic coated graphite tube and at the ashing temperature of 1 000 ℃, the ashing time of 8.0 s, the atomization temperature of 2 600 ℃ and the atomization time of 2.8 s, the concentration of barium showed a linear relationship with the absorbance, with the correlation coefficient of 0.999 1. The detection limit of barium was 2.7 mg/kg, the relative standard deviation was between 2.7% and 5.4%, and the recovery rate of the actual samples was between 89.5% and 94.5%.