The effect of pH on the decomposition of peracetic acid in an aqueous solution was studied. It was found that three potential reactions, namely i) the spontaneous decomposition, ii) the hydrolysis and iii) the transition metal catalysed decomposition, are responsible for the consumption of peracetic acid. The spontaneous decomposition reaches its maximum at pH 8.2, while both the hydrolysis and metal ion catalysed decomposition increase as the pH increases. At pH 10.5 and higher, the hydrolysis becomes dominant when the metal ion catalysed decomposition is minimized by the addition of DTMPA. The kinetics of the peracetic acid hydrolysis was developed, which can very well predict the development of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide during the decomposition reaction.