In this paper, electrocoagulation has been used for removal of color from solution containing C. I. Basic Yellow 28. The effect of operational parameters such as current density, initial pH of the solution, time of electrolysis, initial dye concentration, distance between the electrodes, retention time and solution conductivity were studied in an attempt to reach higher removal efficiency. Our results showed that the increase of current density up to 80 A m(-2) enhanced the color removal efficiency, the electrolysis time was 7 min and the range of pH was determined 5-8. It was found that for achieving a high color removal percent, the conductivity of the solution and the initial concentration of dye should be 10 mS cm(-1) and 50 mg l(-1), respectively. An artificial neural networks (ANN) model was developed to predict the performance of decolorization efficiency by EC process based on experimental data obtained in a laboratory batch reactor. A comparison between the predicted results of the designed ANN model and experimental data was also conducted. The model can describe the color removal percent under different conditions. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.