The copolymers of acrylamide-maleic anhydride and acrylamide-diallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride of different ionicities were used for the removal of color, solids, etc., from effluent generated from textile industry. The studies have been carried out to remove color generated in the effluent. To estimate dye content, we prepared standard curve using UV-vis spectrophotometer at different dye concentration following the Beer Lambert's Law. The copolymers of acrylamide-maleic anhydride and acrylamide-diallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride of known concentration were dosed in the known concentration of the dye. These polymers made flocks by adsorption with dyes and these colored flocks were filtered out. The intensity of the color of water went down on increasing the concentration of the polymers. The color of the textile effluent was removed to the extent of 97% using above mentioned polymers. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013