Previously reported high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assays for ciprofloxacin have used cumbersome fluorescence detection. UV absorbance is more commonly used for assay of antibiotics. Separation of ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid (internal standard) was achieved using UV absorption at 313 nm, and a reversed phase C-18 Nova-Pak column. The mobile phase consisted of 35% phosphate buffers adjusted to pH 7.4, 65% methanol, and 5.5 mM hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide. Retention times were 4.3 and 7.3 min, respectively, for ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid. Serum sample preparation involved protein precipitation with acetonitrile (1:2), followed by methylene chloride and 2-propanol extraction (90:10). After evaporation, reconstitution with a minimal volume of mobile phase allowed for 5X concentration of the sample. The sensitivity limit of the assay was 0.06 microgram/ml. The response was linear from 0.125 to 10.0 micrograms/ml (r greater than 0.999). The coefficient of variation for day-to-day analysis was less than 5.3%, and the recovery was 55%. When compared with microbiological assay in serum, the correlation coefficient was 0.922 (n = 58). This HPLC method using UV detection provided comparable results to those obtained by fluorimetry. Data from three pharmacokinetic studies showed this method to be reliable and accurate.