A simple indirect UV method was developed for the separation of ten trace metal ions by capillary electrophoresis.The background electrolyte contains 15 mmol/L imidazole as the chromophore for indirect UV detection, and acetic acid functioned as a pH modifier for adjusting pH to 3.7 and weak complex reagent.All cations were separated completely within 8 min under hydrodynamic injection mode with a running voltage of +18 kV at 25 ℃.The limits of detection ranged from 0.02 mg/L to 0.21 mg/L and relative standard deviations (n =5) were in the range from 2.1% to 4.2%.The minimum quantitative levels located in the range between 0.10 mg/L and 0.47 mg/L and the maxima between 30 mg/L and 60 mg/L.The recovery for standards and actual water samples was also investigated respectively.The results demonstrate that the method is convenience and reproducible for practical analysis of water systems.