A simple rapid spectrophotometric method has been developed for estimation of cefuroxime axetil from bulk drug and tablet dosage form by using 1-nitroso-2-napthol and sodium hydroxide. The method is based on the formation of yellow-orange coloured complex of drug with 1-nitroso-2-napthol having absorbance maxima at 424 nm. The Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration range of 10-50 mug/ml of the drug but more precisely it obeys in the range of 10- 30 mug/ml. The slope and intercept values are 0.0101 and 0.0838, respectively. Results of analysis of this method were validated statistically and by recovery studies. The method is applied to the marketed tablet formulation. Result of analysis of tablet formulation given as percentage of label claim +/-standard deviation is 99.17+/-1.57. The precision and accuracy was examined by performing recovery studies and was found to be 99.50+/-1.82. Sandell's correlation coefficient is calculated as 0.4434. The developed method is simple, sensitive and reproducible and can be used for routine analysis of cefuroxime axetil from bulk and tablet dosage form.