The kinetics and mechanism of ligand substitution reaction of coordinated water in complex, [Ru(CN) 5 H 2 O] 3À by two incoming naphthalene substituted ligands [L n ], that is, L n ¼ nitroso-Rsalt (NRS) and a-nitroso-b-naphthol (aNbN) have been studied spectrophotometrically by following an increase in absorbance at k max ¼ 525 nm in aqueous medium in presence of anionic surfactant micelle, sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) at 25.0 AE 0.1 C as a function of pH, [nitro-Rsalt], [a-nitroso-b-naphthol], [Ru(CN) 5 H 2 O 3À ], [SDS] and ionic strength(I) under pseudo-firstorder conditions by taking excess [L]. The values of pseudo-first-order rate constants (k obs ) were evaluated from the slope of ln(A 1 À A t ) versus time plots for each variation. Both systems were found to follow a dissociative mechanism (D), through the formation of an intermediate, [Ru(CN) 5 ] 3À . The activation parameters, that is, enthalpy of activation (DH 6 ¼ ) and entropy of activation (DS 6 ¼ ) were computed from the slope and intercept of ln(k f /T) versus (1/T) plot, which support the proposed mechanistic scheme.