The treatment of heavy metal-cyanide complex in industrial wastewater generally involves various processing units, such as chemical oxidation, hydrolysis precipitation and coagulation. A novel dual function reagent (PACC), which contains high content of active chlorine and Al-13 polymer, shows a promising potential to shorten the process and heighten the treatment efficiency for cadmium-cyanide complex ([Cd(CN)(4)](2-)). The results indicated that PACC is able to simultaneously achieve the complete oxidation of cyanide (CN-) by active chlorine and the subsequent coagulation of cadmium ion (Cd2+) by Al-13 polymer. Two stagek were carried out for complete CN- oxidation and effective Cd2+ coagulation. The first stage involves the conversion of CN- to cyanate (CNO-), and the second stage involves the conversion of CNO- to nitrogen and the coagulation of the liberated Cd2+. The optimum pH values for the first stage and the second stage are pH 11 and pH 8.5, respectively. The two stages for effective treatment of [Cd(CN)4](2-) at the optimal pH condition totally need about 43 min at active chlorine dosage 130% of the theoretical requirement for CN- decomposition. Under the optimal conditions for [Cd(CN)4]2- treatment, the stoichiometric weight ratio of Cl-2/Al in PACC is 2. This study presents a novel reagent and method to remove heavy metal-cyanide complexes from wastewater. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.