A wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometric method has been developed for the analysis of thulium oxide to determine the neighbouring rare earth impurities. The sample is taken in oxalate form and the analysis is done on a Philips PW 1220 spectrometer with a LiF (200) crystal. The detection limit for holmium, lutetium and yttrium is 0.002%, for dysprosium and erbium 0.005% and for, ytterbium it is 0.01%. The precision at each concentration of the standards and the theoretical detection limits have been calculated. Intensity correction factors for the line overlaps have been determined.