The behavior of two chemical modi®ers based on platinum and tungsten, is studied in the two parts of this work. At ®rst, the chemical and morphological alterations of these during pyrolysis and atomization stages in electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry are studied. The compounds were H 2 PtCl 6 and Na 2 WO 4 . A cylindrical graphite tube was used, and ®xed shaped rectangular graphite plates were put inside as platforms to prepare the specimens. The crystalline formations on the platforms were studied by scanning electron microscopy and the energy dispersive X-ray spectra allowed the estimation of the chemical composition changes of the modi®ers and the graphite surface. According to the spectra and the images obtained, both modi®ers where found to change their crystalline form at temperatures between 500±1250 C. Severe corrosion of the graphite surface was observed in case of H 2 PtCl 6 at temperature higher than 750 C, while minor damages were observed in case of Na 2 WO 4 . In the second part of this work, the ef®ciency of these modi®ers was tested for maximum loss-free pyrolysis temperature and atomization of lead by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The optimum results, concerning these parameters, obtained for medium concentration of the modi®ers. The effect of each modi®er on the atomization signal is discussed, and the optimum concentration of each one is estimated.