Thin layer chromatography (TLC) of cobalt and nickel has been performed on silica gel layers induced with alkali mediated cellulose extract.A novel combination of 10％ aqueous solutions of Tween-20 and potassium thiocyanate in 1∶ 1 (v/v) was identified as the best mobile phase for the selective separation of Co2+ from Ni2+ on the impregnated Silica Gel G layers.The chromatographic characteristics of the cations were studied and the limits of detection as well as the limits of quantification for Co2+ and Ni2+ were determined.The quantitative estimation of the cations was achieved from the digital image analysis of respective chromatograms.The proposed quantitative method was successfully applied with 0-0.50％ error for the determination of Co2+ from Ni2+ in spiked samples of bauxite,soil and rock containing common cations such as Al3+,Fe2+,Ti4+,Zn2+,Mn2+,Cu2+,Cr6+,Mg2+ etc.under the optimized chromatographic conditions.