This review aims to provide an account of the state-of-the-art, of recently introduced techniques and of future possibilities offered by flow analysis in order to automate sample pretreatment for electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). Topics such as on-line solid-liquid extraction, precipitation, coprecipitation, on-wall retention, solvent extraction and chemical vapor generation processes are used to illustrate the versatility of coupling flow injection (FI) for analyte separation and preconcentration in the flow system or in the atomizer. The use of FI to make the introduction of slurries and highly viscous samples easier is considered as well as on-line microwave sample digestion.
