The gasification of a fuel or biomass is an industrial process that is utilized for synthesis gas (syngas) production. The syngas can be used to generate electricity, but after gasification it is often polluted with tars and various other pollutants. Therefore, the syngas must be cleaned before further use. The objective of this paper was to investigate the potential of removing the tars by non-thermal plasma generated by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge in combination with various packing materials (TiO 2 , Pt/γ-Al 2 O 3 , γ-Al 2 O 3 , glass beads). Naphthalene was used as a model polyaromatic tar compound. The effect of discharge power, carrier gas and packing material on naphthalene removal was investigated and gaseous and solid by-products were analysed by means of FTIR spectrometry. In ambient air, a naphthalene removal efficiency of 88% and 40% was achieved for 320 J l −l with and without the catalyst, respectively. The maximum removal efficiency of almost 100% was observed with a TiO 2 catalyst and oxygen carrier gas. CO, CO 2 , H 2 O and HCOOH were identified among the products, as well as more complex compounds, such as 1,4-naphthoquinone and phthalic anhydride.