Abstract: Pollution of the environment is of great concern, thus the present study investigated the concentration of trace metals in soil found around the major industrial areas of the Northwestern state of Nigeria, using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The results obtained indicated that these metals on dry weight basis in the soil ranged between (0.1-0.7 μg g-1) Cd, (14.2-92.7 μg g-1) Cr, (151.5-540 μg g-1) Pb and (3.5-24.7 μg g-1) Ni. From the results, industrial areas seem to be relatively high in concentration of tested metals than those of the control sites. The soil pH of the sampling sites varied on the average from 6.5 to 7.12 in water indicating only a slightly acidic to neutral. The soil pH in CaCl2 is within the range of 5.49 to 6.39 indicating moderately acidic soil. Generally, the concentrations obtained were higher than the tolerable limit for safe environment as prescribed by Nigerian Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) and World Health Organization (WHO). The degree of pollution measured constitutes a threat to humanity and the ecosystem.