A solvent sublation using salphen as a ligand was studied and applied for the determination of trace Ni(II), Co(II) and Cu(II) in water samples. The fundamental study was investigated by a solvent extraction process because the solvent sublation was done by extracting the floated analytes into an organic solvent from the aqueous solution. The salphen complexes of Ni(II), Co(II) and Cu(II) ions were formed in an alkaline solution of more than pH 8 and then they were extracted into m-xylene. It was known that the each metallic ion formed 1 : 1 complex with the salphen and the logarithmic values of extraction constants for the complexes were 3.3 5.1 as an average value. Based on the preliminary study, the procedure was fixed for the separation and concentration of the analytes in samples. Various conditions such as the pH of solutions, the influence of $NaClO_4$, the bubbling rate and time of $N_2$ gas, and the type of organic solvent were optimized. The metal-salphen complexes could be extracted into m-xylene from the solution of more than pH 8, but the pH could be shifted to acidic solution of pH 6 by the addition of $NaClO_4$. In addition, the solvent sublation efficiency of the analytes was increased by adding $NaClO_4$. The recovery of 97-115% was obtained in the spiked samples in which given amounts of 0.3 mg/L Ni(II), 0.8 mg/L Co(II) and 0.04 mg/L Cu(II) were added.