A catalytic spectrophotometry for the determination of trace amount of vanadium was developed based on its catalytic effect on the oxidation of arsenazo Ⅲ by potassium bichromate in weak acidic medium. The optimized conditions for determinations are: cK2Cr2O7=3.0×10-5 mol·L-1, carsenazo Ⅲ=3.0×10-5 mol·L-1, pH=4.0, t=90℃. The calibration graph is linear for 0.02～0.2 μg·ml-1, and the detection limit is 0.02 μg·ml-1 V. The apparent active energy of this catalytic reaction is 21.72 kJ·mol-1. Most foreign ions do not interfere with the determination of vadadium, except for Fe(Ⅱ) and Co(Ⅱ), and their interferences could be eliminated by ion exchange. The present method has been used to make the determination of vanadium in human hair, tea, potato and wastewater, and the results were satisfactory.