carbon modified methods were used for the preconcentration and determination of copper in some real samples using the flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The copper ions was adsorbed quantitatively on the activated carbon due to their complexation with 4- amino-2, 3-dimethyl-1-phenyl-3-pyrazoline (ADMPP) or 4-(4- methoxybenzylidenimin) thiophenole (MBITP). The adsorbed copper on solid phase was eluted quantitatively using small amount of nitric acid. The influence of important parameters including pH, amount of carrier, flow rate, amount of activated carbon and type and concentration of eluting agent for obtaining maximum recovery were investigated. The methods based on ADMPP and MBITP at optimum conditions is linear over concentration range of 0.05-1.5 g mL-1 and 0.05-1.2 g mL-1 of copper with correlation coefficient of 0.9997 and 0.9994 and both detection limit of 1.4 ng mL-1, respectively. The preconcentration leads to enrichment factor of 310 and break through volume of 1550 mL for both ligands. The method has a good tolerance limit of interfering ion and a selectivity that has been successfully applied for the determination of copper content in real sample such as tap, spring, river and waste water.