A quick, accurate, reproducible high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the determination of clenbuterol in the presence of some common pharmaceutical preservatives (i.e., methyl and propyl paraben) is described. The method is specific enough to separate and determine clenbuterol in the presence of degradation products of the formulation components. Extraction of interfering formulation components provides the necessary clean-up to determine clenbuterol via HPLC.