A glow discharge using a solution as the cathode was investigated to add to the understanding of the operating mechanism and characteristics of such systems. The intensities and vertical distributions of emission from several analytes and background species were observed and compared with the vertical distribution of Fe excitation and OH rotational temperatures, as well as to electrical characteristics. The effects of the discharge gap size, the pH and conductivity of the solution, the applied current and the solution flow rate on these distributions were also studied. Detection limits for this system were found to be comparable to those of similar systems and mostly in range of tens of parts per billion.