The aim of this work is to propose a biomonitoring method for the simultaneous determination of Cd and Pb in whole blood by simultaneous electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry for assessment of environmental levels. A volume of 200μL of whole blood was diluted in 500μL of 0.2% (wv⁻¹) Triton^® X-100+2.0% (vv⁻¹) HNO₃. Trichloroacetic acid was added for protein precipitation and the supernatant analyzed. A mixture of 250μg W+200μg Rh as permanent and 2.0% (wv⁻¹) NH₄H₂PO₄ as co-injected modifiers were used. Characteristic masses and limits of detections (n=20, 3s) for Cd and Pb were 1.26 and 33pg and 0.026μgL⁻¹ and 0.65μgL⁻¹, respectively. Repeatability ranged from 1.8 to 6.8% for Cd and 1.2 to 1.7% for Pb. The trueness of method was checked by the analysis of three Reference Materials: Lyphocheck^® Whole Blood Metals Control level 1 and Seronorm™ Trace Elements in Whole Blood levels 1 and 2. The found concentrations presented no statistical differences at the 95% confidence level. Blood samples from 40 volunteers without occupational exposure were analyzed and the concentrations ranged from 0.13 to 0.71μgL⁻¹ (0.32±0.19μgL⁻¹) for Cd and 9.3 to 56.7μgL⁻¹ (25.1±10.8μgL⁻¹) for Pb.