A highly sensitive, direct, and precise method for the determination of yttrium (III) via spectrophotometry has been developed. This procedure relies on the formation of an orange-colored complex, exhibiting its maximum absorbance at 499 nm. This complex is formed through the reaction between yttrium (III) and Clayton Yellow (CY) reagent in a citrate buffer solution at pH 5. The FTIR analysis confirmed the yttrium-CY complex, revealing a potential interaction mechanism between reactive groups on the CY dye and the yttrium (III) ions. Several criteria were scrutinized to optimize the formed yttrium-CY complex. These included assessing the acid type, optimal pH, dye concentration, evaluating the temporal stability of the complex, and establishing the calibration curve for yttrium concentration. The complex was found to have an average molar absorptivity (ε) 0.54×104 M−1.cm−1 with Sandell's sensitivity of 1.67×10-2. Beer's law was applied within the 0.06 to 12 μg mL−1 range. Under ideal conditions, it has been determined that, the stoichiometry of the reaction between the CY reagent and yttrium (III) is 1:5. The limit of detection (LOD) is found to be 0.06 μg mL−1. Utilizing the first derivative spectrophotometric approach, the measurement of yttrium within the rare earth elements (REE) exhibited remarkable sensitivity and precision.