In this study, treatment of textile printing dye-bath effluent (DBE) has been performed by electrocoagulation (EC) method using aluminum (Al) electrode in a batch mode. Various operating parameters such as initial pH (pH(0)), current density (J), electrolysis time (t) and inter electrode distance (d) were varied so as to see their effect on multiple responses namely chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal (Y-1), color removal (Y-2) and specific energy consumed (kW h/kg of COD removed; Y-3). Full factorial central composite design (CCD) has been used for carrying out experiments and optimizing responses Y-1, Y-2 and Y-3. Multi-response optimization with desirability function approach has been used to simultaneously maximize Y-1 and Y-2, and minimize Y-3. Optimized values of various responses were: Y-1 = 94%, Y-2 = 99.7% and Y-3 = 0.011 kW h/kg of COD removed. Scum and sludge generated during EC of DBE have also been analyzed for the possibility of their disposal. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.