This paper reports an investigation of different persulfate (PS) activations, including PS at 20°C (PS), thermally activated PS at 70°C (T-PS), ferrous-ion activated PS at 20°C [Fe(II)-PS)], hydrogen peroxide activated PS at 20°C, and sodium hydroxide activated PS at 20°C, for degradation of the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in aqueous phase. Several findings were made in this study including the followings: the 2,4-D degradation rates in T-PS and Fe(II)-PS systems were higher than other systems. However, complete degradation of 2,4-D and associated derivatives can be reached in all oxidation systems, with various reaction times. When considering the results of PS consumption during the 48 h reaction time to reach complete 2,4-D degradation, the T-PS system consumed all of the PS while only 10 % of the PS was consumed in the Fe(II)-PS system.