A new simple, precise, rapid and selective high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of atenolol (ATL) and amlodipine (AMLO) in tablets, using methylene chloride:methanol:ammonia solution (25% NH3) (8.8:1.3:0.1; v/v) as the mobile phase and Merck HPTLC plates (0.2 mm thickness) precoated with 60F254 silica gel on aluminium sheet as the stationary phase. Detection was carried out densitometrically using a UV detector at 230 nm. The retention factors of ATL and AMLO were 0.33 and 0.75, respectively. Calibration curves were linear in the range 10-500 microg ml(-1) for both. Assays of ATL and AMLO were 49.87 mg per tablet (relative standard deviation (R.S.D.), 1.3%) and 4.90 mg per tablet (R.S.D., 1.38%) for brand I, and 49.27 mg per tablet (R.S.D., 1.12%) and 4.98 mg per tablet (R.S.D., 1.42%) for brand II, respectively. The percentage recoveries for ATL and AMLO for brands I and II were 99.06 and 99.30%, and 99.27 and 99.15%, respectively.