Herein, we report the synthesis of two amphiphilic porphyrins having pyridinium moieties and their anion recognition properties in aqueous medium. The study of their interactions with various anions reveals that these porphyrins exhibit unique and selective interactions with CN^- ions when compared to the other anions. The addition of CN^- ions to an aqueous solution of the butyl porphyrin resulted in a hypochromicity of ca. 78% at 419 nm with a concomitant band formation at 449 nm in the absorption spectrum. Similarly, we observed ca. 82% quenching in the emission intensity by the addition of 12.5 M of CN^- ions in the fluorescence spectrum of the porphyrin mediated through aggregation. The limit of detection of CN^- ions was found to be ca. 49 ppb and the nature of interactions has been studied through various microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. These studies have confirmed 1,4-addition of CN^- ions to the pyridinium moiety of the porphyrin system, which led to the aggregation induced self-assembly resulting in the sensitive detection of CN^- ions through changes in absorbance and fluorescence intensity in aqueous medium.