To provide a method for separating rare earth elements by chromatography using the difference in adsorption properties between individual rare earth elements and resin.

In the invention, using a resin column filled with a tertiary amine anion exchange resin, adsorption properties to the resin are increased with a combination of a nitric acid-alcohol mixed solvent, and pressure in a degree that a solution flows is only applied under a cold temperature condition without using high temperature and high pressure, so that the rare earth elements can simply be separated each other. In the invention, by using nitric acid as inorganic acid with a simple structure and alcohol only having an alkyl group without using organic acid such as α-HIBA (hydroxyisobutyric acid), the refining of the rare earth elements after the separation can be made easy.