This paper describes the electrocatalytic oxidation of nitrite by poly-thionine /gold nanoparticle modified glassy carbon electrode. Due to the synergistic effect of poly-thionine and gold nanoparticle, the modied electrodes could oxide nitrite with enhanced oxidation current and a decrease in the required overpotential compared with bare electrode without poly-thionine and gold nanoparticles layer coated. The influence factors for nitrite assay such as polymer film thickness, adsorption time of gold nanoparticles onto the poly-thionine film, different buffers and pH,interferent ions were discussed elaborately. Under the optimal conditions, the oxidation current signal was proportional to the concentration of nitrite from 3.0×10-6 to 1.0×10-3 mol/L with a detection limit of 1.0×10-6 mol/L. The proposed method has been applied to determine nitrite concentration in real samples and the results were satisfactory. The poly-thionine/gold nanoparticles composites modied electrode has been proved to possess high sensitivity, good storage stability, reproducibility and anti-interference ability.