Laboratory-scale research has focused on the recovery of titanium from red mud, which is obtained from bauxite during the Bayer process for alumina production. The leaching process is based on the extraction of this element with diluted sulfuric acid from red mud under atmospheric conditions and without using any preliminary treatment. Statistical design and analysis of experiments were used, in order to determine the main effects and interactions of the leaching process factors, which were: acid normality, temperature and solid to liquid ratio. The titanium recovery efficiency on the basis of red mud weight reached 64.5%. The characterization of the initial red mud, as well as this of the leached residues was carried out by X-ray diffraction, TG-DTA and scanning electron microscopy. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.