Nonionic surfactant vesicles containing celecoxib (CXB) as an anti-inflammatory drug were prepared using, Span 60 or Span 40 and cholesterol in the ratios of 1:0, 1:1 and 1:2. Prepared vesicles were characterized for encapsulation efficiency, particle size and drug release. The drug encapsulation efficiencies varied from 60.55 to 80.35%. The vesicle size ranged from 170 to 235 nm. The high encapsulation was achieved by the ratio 1:1 of span 60: cholesterol and this formula showed significant in vitro release of the drug (80%) as compared to other forms (P 0.05). Among niosomal gels investigated, poloxamer 407 niosomal gel showed significant drug release (72% after 12 h) over the other forms (P 0.05). The results also showed that the release of CXB from the niosomes and niosomal gels obeyed the Higuchi’s diffusion model. The anti-inflammatory activity of the drug from different niosomal gel formulations was also studied using Carrageenan induced rat paw edema method. The results showed that there is significant anti-inflammatory activity (75.45%) of the poloxamer niosomal gel on rat paw edema (P 0.05).