Investigations in our laboratory have demonstrated that capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with indirect photometric detection is a viable approach to the separation and identification of free bile acids along with their taurine and glycine derivatives. Various parameters such as pH, organic solvent concentrations, column temperature, and type of chromophore electrolyte were investigated to optimize the electrophoretic separation and to maximize the peak capacity. The quality of separation of bile acids can be dramatically improved by incorporating gamma-cyclodextrin (gamma-CD) in the running electrolyte. This improvement in resolution is accompanied by a decreased migration time, suggestive of an increase in association of gamma-CD with bile acids. As a result, a CZE separation of all 15 bile acids was possible in approximately 30 min using 5 mM adenosine 5'-monophosphate, 7 mM gamma-CD in 75% (v/v) methanol at pH 7.0.