A rapid and sensitive analytical method was developed for the spectrophotometric assay of prazosin hydrochloride. The method is based on the formation of a coloured derivative between the drug and 1,2-naphthoquinone-4- sulphonic acid sodium salt (NQS). The reaction proceeds quantitatively at pH 4.5 and 70degreesC for 40 min. After the extraction of the derivative with chloroform: n-butanol (3:1), the absorbance was measured at 400 nm. The method was applied to commercially available tablets and the results were statistically compared with those obtained by ultraviolet spectrophotometric and differential pulse polarographic methods using t- and F-tests.