The rare earth elements (REE), Pr, Sm, Eu, Gd, Ho, Er and Tm have been determined by charged particle activation analysis using 40 MeV α-particles through radiochemical approach. The radiochemical separation of REE as a group has been carried out from the bulk mat rix. It has been shown from the theoretical computation that the products obtained from (α,xn) reactions (x=1, 2, 3) are more suitable compared to those from(α,pyn) reactions (y=0, 1, 2) due to the former having higher cross section (of the order of thousand millibarns).