In this paper, optimization of biological decolorization of synthetic dye solution containing Malachite Green was investigated. The effect of temperature, initial pH of the solution, type of algae, dye concentration and time of the reaction was studied and optimized using Taguchi method. Sixteen experiments were required to study the effect of parameters on biodegradation of the dye. Each of experiments was repeated three times to calculate signal/noise (S/N). Our results showed that initial pH of the solution was the most effective parameter in comparison with others and the basic pH was favorable. In this study, we also optimized the experimental parameters and chose the best condition by determination effective factors. Based on the S/N ratio, the optimized conditions for dye removal were temperature 25 degrees C, initial pH 10, dye concentration 5 ppm, algae type Chlorella and time 2.5 h. The stability and efficiency of Chlorella sp. in long-term repetitive operations were also examined. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.