A method for determining distances to dark clouds and Bok globules based on broad-band optical and near-infrared photometry is presented. In this method, intrinsic colour indices of stars projected towards the direction of a cloud are computed by dereddening the observed colour indices using various trial values of extinction A_V_ and a standard extinction law. The computed intrinsic colour indices for a star are then compared with the intrinsic colour indices of normal main-sequence stars and a spectral type is assigned to the star for which the computed colour indices best match the standard intrinsic colour indices. Distances (d) to the stars are determined using the A_V_ and absolute magnitudes (M_V_) corresponding to the spectral types thus obtained. A plot of A_V_ against d undergoes a sharp rise at a distance corresponding to the distance to the cloud. Using this method, we have determined a distance of 550pc to the cometary globule CG 12.