Simple and sensitive spectrophotometric methods (M-1 and M-2) based on the oxidation of tylosin (TS) with excess of sodium metaperiodate and estimating either the amount of periodate consumed (with celestine blue (CB) in the presence of Te(IV), M-1) or product formed (iodate with p-N-methylaminophenol sulphate-sulphanilamide (PMAP-SA, W) have been described. Beer's law limits, precision and accuracy of the methods are checked by the UV reference method. The methods are found to be suitable for the assay of tylosin. The recovery range is 99.02 to 100.96%.