Micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) using a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), was applied to simultaneous separation of four types of hydrophobic steroid hormones including androgens, estrogens, progestins, and glucocorticoids. Various parameters, such as the concentration of CTAB, type and proportion of organic modifiers, and sample matrix have been demonstrated to be important with respect to the separation resolution, analysis time, and repeatability. Successful separation of cortisone, hydrocortisone, estriol, testosterone, estrone, progesterone, and estradiol was achieved at −25 kV using 100 mM Tris‐boric acid buffer (pH 9.0) containing 40 mM CTAB and 20% 2‐propanol using ultraviolet (UV) absorption detection. For estrogen compounds which possess intrinsic fluorescence, detection limits at the sub μM level could be achieved with laser‐induced fluorescence (LIF) detection. Two kinds of pharmaceutical preparations were analyzed using the developed method, and the results were in good agreement with the label claims.