The heavy metal ions Mn 2+ , Fe 3+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , Cu 2+ , Bi 3+ , and Ag + can be visualized as violet, black, green, yellow-green, red-brown, yellow, and yellow spots at trace levels, i.e. 32, 34, 45, 23, 25, 43, and 53 ng per spot, respectively, on paper strips by treating with aqueous 0.1 m sodium diethyldithiocarbamate solution. The appearance of the spots is better at pH 9.5. Several binary separations can be achieved on thinlayer cellulose plates impregnated with sodium diethyldithiocarbamate by use of organic solvents as mobile phase. Paper chromatographic strips impregnated with sodium diethyldithiocarbamate can also be used to achieve many binary separations. Separations achieved on such strips, by use of saturated solutions of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate in organic solvents as mobile phases, are Cu 2+ from Ag + , Mn 2+ from Ag + , and Mn 2+ from Zn 2+ .