The electrochemical degradation of p-nitrophenol (PNP) at boron-doped diamond (BDD) and platinum (Pt) anodes was studied by varying the parameters such as Cl- concentration, pH of aqueous medium and applied current density. The results obtained were explained in terms of in situ concomitant generation of hydroxyl radicals and chloride based oxidant species. The degradation of PNP was highly promoted in low concentration of NaCl electrolyte (less than 0.10 M), on contrary, the mineralization efficiency was poor at both BDD and Pt anodes with the NaCl concentration up to 0.20 M, which was ascribed to the formation of refractory chlorinated organic compounds. A maximum of 100% and 70% of COD removal was achieved in 5 h of electrolysis period using both BDD and Pt anodes under similar experimental conditions. Kinetic study indicated that the degradation of PNP at BDD and Pt anodes followed pseudo-first-order reactions, and the reaction rate constant (k(s)) of the former was observed to be higher than that of the latter. Besides COD, conversion of PNP into various intermediate compounds and their degradations were also monitored. The mechanisms for PNP degradation at BDD and Pt anodes were proposed separately by considering the nature of respective intermediate species and their concentrations. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.