A sensitive and selective method for the solvent extraction and spectrophotometric determination of cerium(IV) with N-p-Chlorophenyl 3, 4, 5-trimethoxycinnamohydroxamic acid has been described. It forms a reddish brown coloured complex with cerium(IV) which can be extracted into chloroform at pH 9-10 and the molar absorptivity is 8.5 × 103 dm3 mol-1 cm-1 at 465 nm. The effects of pH, reagent concentration, extraction time and stability of the complex are discussed.