This article presented an approach for the treatment of dye wastewater using H2O2 and heterogeneous catalysts. In order to screen out an effective catalyst, a series of catalysts containing transition metals were prepared by impregnation and precipitation methods. The results indicate that Cu is a promising catalyst as it eliminated almost totally the chroma of the acid scarlet aqueous solution accompanied with a good chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate. The results also show that the catalysts prepared by precipitation were more effective than those prepared by impregnation. Moreover, the activity decrease of the catalyst was not changed between batches, and the catalysts could be recovered after treatment. The results were also satisfied when the catalyst was used to treat other dye wastewater. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.