Fenton-like oxidation has proved to be highly efficient for the removal of triclosan, a highly toxic emerging water pollutant. From 10mg/L starting aqueous solutions complete conversion of triclosan was achieved in less than 1h at 25°C and around 20min at 50°C with 1mg/L Fe3+ and H2O2 at the theoretical stoichiometric amount (25mg/L). From the evolution of byproducts a reaction pathway has been proposed according to which oxidation of triclosan gives rise to several aromatic intermediates (mainly, p-hydroquinone of triclosan and 2,4-dichlorophenol) which evolve to short-chain organic acids. These compounds are mineralized except oxalic acid. A dramatic decrease of ecotoxicity was achieved in a relatively short time (more than 95% in 15min at 35°C). The evolution of ecotoxicity is intimately related to the disappearance of triclosan, much more toxic than the aromatic oxidation intermediates. This disappearance was successfully described by a simple pseudo-first order rate equation with an apparent activation energy value close to 27kJ/mol. The apparent rate constant at 25°C was several orders of magnitude higher than the reported in the literature for other chlorophenolic compounds indicating a higher susceptibility of triclosan to OH radical attackThis research has been supported by the Spanish MICINN through the project CTQ2008-03988 and by the CM through the project S-2009/AMB-158