Surfactant enhanced fluorescence (FL) of europium-salicylic acid (SA) complex has been studied. It was observed that weak FL of Eu(III) at the wavelength of 589 nm and 612 nm was found to be enhanced after addition of salicylic acid and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant upon excitation at 395 nm. Under optimized condition, FL intensity of Eu(III) at 612 nm responded linearly with the concentration of SA in the range of 5.5×10^(-9) to 1.5×10^(-6) M of SA. The detection limit was calculated from the calibration curve(3Sb/m) as 9.27×10^(-9)M.