A new, rapid, simple, selective and sensitive method for the spectrophotometric determination of sulphathiazole is described. The drug forms a yellow coloured complex with Pd(II) in alkaline medium (1 M NaOH). The drug complex exhibits maximum absorbance at 410 nm, with a molar absorptivity of 1.9 × 1031 mol−1cm−1. Effects of molarity of NaOH, reagent concentration on the proper complex formation are discussed. The system obeys Beer's law in the concentration range of 10-160 ppm of sulphathiazole.