Rollins et al. (1995, Powder Technol. 84, 277-282), showed the superiority of the analysis of variance technique (ANOVA) over the mixing index approach in the detection of segregation in binary powder mixtures. In industry, a common problem is determinating the level of segregation in a multicomponent mixture. This article compares the performance of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) technique to that of multivariate indices. Using a Monte-Carlo simulation study, the techniques performances are evaluated for varying levels of segregation, between species (intra) correlation, level of measurement error and level of test significance.