A high sensitive and selective spectrophotometric method for the determination of aluminium(III) using 2,3‐dichloro‐6‐(3‐carboxy‐2‐hydroxy‐1‐naphthylazo)quinoxaline (DCHNAQ) and zephiramine (zeph) is described. The formed ion pair precipitate between zephiramine and perchlorate ions is effective for the enrichment of aluminium(III) on a membrane filter as its ternary complex with DCHNAQ and zephiramine. The solid–state absorbance of the complex on the membrane filter is measured at 655 nm against a blank thin layer and the difference is calculated. The colour system obeys Beer's law from 5.0–150 ng ml of aluminium. The detection and quantification limits were calculated. The relative standard deviation for 60 ng of aluminium(III) in 20‐ml sample volume amounts 0.84% (n=10). A ligand buffer solution, composed of transcyclohexane‐1,2‐diaminetetraacetic acid with an excess of zinc(II), is effective for masking interferences from foreign ions, particularly iron(III). The proposed method was applied successfully to tap and environmental water, biological (human blood, urine, and gallstone), and soil samples.