Cetirizine hydrochloride reacted with BiI4^‒ in an acidic aqueous solution to form precipitate. After centrifugation,the atomic emission intensity of Bi^(3+) contained in the supernatant solution was measured at the characteristic wavelength of 206.170 nm. The difference between the spectral signal intensity of the blank solution and that of the supernatant, ΔI, was linearly related to the concentration of cetirizine hydrochloride. As a result, a new inductively coupled plasmaatomic emission spectrometric (ICP-AES) method was developed for the analysis of cetirizine hydrochloride. The linear range was from 27.7 to 184.8 mg·L^(‒1), with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9961 and a detection limit of 9.6 mg·L^(‒1). This method is simple and accurate, Without using toxic organic solvents, and is feasible for the quality control of cetirizine hydrochloride tablets and capsules.