An effective and simple analytical method for determination and quantification of pyrethroids in water is developed and presented. The method was studied using six highly persistent pyrethroid insecticides viz., cyfluthrin, fenpropathrin, cyhalothrin, Cypermethrin, deltamethrin and fenvelerate. The pyrethroid insecticides were extracted with dichloromethane and passed through sodium sulfate to remove residual water. The extracts were solvent exchanged to acetonitrile and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipped with UV Diode Array Detector (UV-DAD) at wavelength 205 nm. The method was checked by another LC system with different column and mobile phase. The recoveries of pyrethroids at two fortification levels were studied. The average recoveries ranged from 80 to 96% ± 3-12% (lower level of fortification) and 79-107% ± 5-10% (higher level of fortification). The performance of the instrument was verified by calibration verification and the variation was less than 13%. The detection limit of the method established and ranged from 0.026 to 0.074 ng ml-1 without any additional clean-up and with little interferences during analysis. The method is rapid, simple, sensitive and is applicable to the determination of cyfluthrin, fenpropathrin, cyhalothrin, Cypermethrin, deltamethrin and fenvelerate in water and wastewater. © Printed in India.