In recent years conducting polymers such as polyaniline are used as corrosion inhibitors for metals in acids. The performance of the inhibitor can be enhanced either by the addition of halide ions or metal cations. A study has been made on the effect of addition of ceric ions on the corrosion inhibition performance of polyaniline for iron in 0.5 M H2SO4. Techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, potentiodynamic polarization and linear polarization resistance methods have been employed to study the corrosion inhibition. The polyaniline has been used in the concentration range of 10-100 ppm and the ceric ions concentration has been maintained at 1 x 10(-3) M. The inhibition efficiency of polyaniline at 10 ppm has been increased from 53 to 88% and for 50 ppm from 71 to 90% in the presence of ceric ions. The enhanced inhibition of polyaniline in presence of ceric ions is due to the higher coverage of polyaniline-cerium complex. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.