Recent innovations and improvements in methods for the determination of trace concentrations of common anions inwater are reviewed and speculations are made regarding future research in this area. Most noteworthy are potentiometric methods utilizing ion-selective electrodes, which may replace many chemical methods in situations where repetitive analyses must be made. The most interesting developments among the more conventional types of analyses are spectrophotometric methods involving ion association compounds in ion exchange, solvent extraction, and reverse solvent extraction procedures. The possibility of increasing the sensitivity of spectrophotometric methods by chemical amplification of the absorbing species has received some attention recently. Fluorimetric methods for anions are few but the area is an attractive one for study because of the extreme sensitivities attainable.