Objective To explore a quicker and simpler method for the staining of cerebral pyramidal cells and cereberullar Purkinje cells. Methods Blocks of the cerebrums and cerebellums of the cat, rabbit, rat and guinea pig were removed, fixed and immersingstained with a mixture of mercuric chloride, potassium bichromate and potassium chromate. Some of fixed blocks were embedded in collodion and sectioned on a sliding microtome. The sections were prepared by traditional Cox method. The other fixed blocks were cut on a vibratome without embedding, and the sections were prepared by the improved Cox method. Results Compared with Cox method, the improved method by using vibratome section had less procedure and took less time. Moreover, the staining of neurons by the improved method was more even, showing more complete processes and more details of small processes, with a lighter background and no or fewer if any, precipitations of staining reagents in the sections.Conclusion The improved Cox method by using vibratome section is quick and simple with higher successful rate and is superior in terms of neuron staining compared with the traditional Cox method.