Simple and sensitive spectrophotometric and spectrofluorimetric methods are described for analysis of acebutolol hydrochloride. The proposed methods are based on oxidation of the selected drug with cerium(IV) ion in acidic medium with subsequent measurement of either the decrease in absorbance at 320 nm or the fluorescence intensity of the produced cerous(III) ion at 363 nm (excitation at 250 nm). Beer's law obeyed from 1.0-7.0 microg ml(-1) and 0.25-2.5 microg ml(-1) acebutolol hydrochloride, using the spectrophotometric and spectrofluorimetric method, respectively. The proposed methods were successfully applied for determination of the selected drug in its pharmaceutical preparation with good recoveries.