Removal of cadmium as a hazardous heavy metal is studied by applying a new design of hybrid cell for liquid membrane process. Tri-iso-octyl amine (TIOA) is used as the carrier in the organic phase. The concentration of cadmium in the samples is measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The effect of various parameters including type of supporting membrane, pH of feed and stripping phases, initial concentration of cadmium, carrier concentration, solvent nature, and also organic film resistance on mass transfer rate and removal efficiency are studied. The effect of temperature on mass transfer flux is studied by proposing a prediction model. The optimum carrier concentration is found to be about 0.05 M. The appropriate values of pH for feed and stripping phases are about 3 and 13, respectively. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.