A necessity exists to find an effective treatment method capable of removing both the strong colour and the toxic organic compounds from textile wastewater. A pilot-scale dual-stage membrane bioreactor (dsMBR) incorporating two ultrafiltration (UF) sidestream membrane modules was designed, constructed, operated and evaluated on-site for treating high strength textile wastewater. The wastewater stream was characterised by a colour range of 195-2070 ADMI units and a chemical oxygen demand (COD) of between 728 and 1033 mg/L. A consistent reduction in the colour of the incoming wastewater was evident in the treatment stages. The residual colour and remaining salt in the UF permeate was treated with reverse osmosis (RO). The colour in the wastewater was reduced from an average of 660 ADMI units to similar to 12 ADMI units in the RO permeate, a lower ADMI compared to the potable water (similar to 17 ADMI units) used on-site by this textile company. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.