The effect of surface modification of indium tin oxide (ITO) by multi wall carbon nanotube (MWNT) and gold nanoparticles attached multi wall carbon nanotube (AuNP-MWNT) has been studied to determine tryptophan, an important and essential amino acid for humans and herbivores. A detailed comparison has been made among the voltammetric response of bare ITO, MWNT/ITO and AuNP-MWNT/ITO in respects of several essential analytical parameters viz, sensitivity, detection limit, peak current and peak potential of tryptophan. The AuNP-MWNT/ITO exhibited a well defined anodic peak at pH 7.2 at a potential of similar to 669 mV for the oxidation of tryptophan as compared to 760 mV at MWNT/ITO electrode. Under optimum conditions linear calibration curve was obtained over tryptophan concentration range 0.5-90.0 mu M in phosphate buffer solution of pH 7.2 with detection limit and sensitivity of 0.025 mu M and 0.12 mu A mu M(-1), respectively. The oxidation of tryptophan occurred in a pH dependent, 2e(-) and 2H(+) process and the electrode reaction followed adsorption controlled pathway. The method has been found selective and successfully implemented for the determination of tryptophan in human urine and plasma samples using standard addition method. The electrode exhibited an efficient catalytic response with good reproducibility and stability. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.