In this work, a solid phase spectrophotometric method in association with flow injection analysis for formaldehyde determination has been developed with direct measurement of light-absorption in C(18) material. The 3,5-diacetyl-1,4-dihydrolutidine produced from the reaction between formaldehyde and fluoral P was quantitatively retained on C(18) support and the spectrophotometric detection was performed simultaneously at 412nm. The retained complex was quickly eluted from C(18) material with the eluent stream consisting of a 50% (v/v) ethanol solution. The results showed that the proposed method is simple, rapid and the analytical response is linear in the concentration range of 0.050-1.5mgL(-1). The limit of detection was estimated as 30mugL(-1) and the R.S.D. 2.2% using a sample volume of 625muL. The system presented an analytical throughput of 20 determinations per hour. The method was successfully applied in the determination of formaldehyde in ethanol fuel.