The present study is based on the investigation of performances of electrocoagulation, biological, and microfiltration processes i.e., hybrid membrane bioreactor (HMBR) for the removal of COD and colour in tannery wastewater. Effects of current density and pH were analysed to optimize the electrocoagulation process. The optimized electrocoagulation process was then integrated with the activated sludge process (ASP) and dead end microfiltration (MF) for the treatment of tannery effluents and was found that the hybrid process was capable of promoting the quality of the treated tannery wastewater. The performances of membrane bioreactor (MBR) and HMBR were compared. The COD and colour removal for MBR and HMBR were 73, 76 and 90, 93% respectively. The cake layer formed over the membrane of the HMBR process was analysed through SEM-EDAX. The fouling of the membrane was found to be reduced considerably when electrocoagulation was integrated with MBR. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.