The proposed method determines the activity of cholesterol esterase (CEH) and takes advantage of its ability to catalyze the hydrolysis of cholesterol esters naturally present in human serum. The assay is based on Allain's method of spectrophotometric determination of cholesterol by means of cholesterol oxidase, peroxidase, but using 3,5-dichloro-dihydroxybenzenesulfonic acid (DHBS) as phenolic chromogen and human serum as a source of substrate for the CEH as a novelty. Furthermore, it is characterized by low costs and high precision. It can be employed to control the activity of CE preparations used for the preparation of enzymatic kits for the determination of cholesterol or for screening of potential bacterial enzyme producers.