Spinel ferrite samples of Ni_1-xZnxFe₂O₄ (for x=0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 and 0.8) nanoparticles prepared by a novel chemical synthesis method have been characterized by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) technique to investigate the distribution of cations in the unit cell. XANES region clearly shows that as Ni concentration increases, the pre-edge feature, which is a characteristic of tetrahedral coordination of Fe, is enhanced. A quantitative determination of the relative occupancy of iron cation in the octahedral and tetrahedral sites of the spinel structure was obtained from EXAFS data analysis. It has been found that as atomic fraction of Ni is increased from 0.2 to 0.8, Fe occupancy at tetrahedral to octahedral sites is increased from 13:87 and to 39:61.