Overview of textile wastewaters and textile dyes Characteristics of textile wastewaters Textile dyeing industries are facing problems to meet the green practices standards for safe discharge of wastewater due to its complex nature. TWWs are a complex mixture of salts, acids, heavy metals, organ-chlorine-based pesticides, pigments and dyes. 5,10 TWWs generated from the different wet processes are characterized by high pH, temperature, BOD, COD, detergents, surfactants, suspended and dissolved solids, dispersants, leveling agents, toxic organics, chlorinated compounds, sulphide and formaldehyde, may be added to improve dye adsorption onto the fibers 9 and more details are mentioned in the Figure 1. Such effluents are also characterized by the presence of heavy metals, such as Cr, Zn, Cu and Al due to metal-based complexes dyes. 10,14 The most common textile operates are desizing, bleaching, mercerizing, dyeing and finishing. 15 Characteristics and the amount of TWWs depend to the process, dyeing is the most one which requires large volumes of water not only in the step of adding color to the fibers, in dye bath, but also during the rinsing step. Mercerizing and finishing are also significant generators of TWWs. In addition, equipment, machines and chemicals, 5 such as detergents and stabilizers, alter significantly the nature of TWWs. Another important factor which contributes to the ecotoxicity and the volume of TWWs is that dyeing and finishing processes, especially, require the imput of a wide range of dyestuffs. The Variety of dyes depends to the fiber used. 16 For example, cellulose fiber requires the application of direct, reactive, vat, azo or sulfide dyes. Acid dyes are used essentially for wool and silk. Azo and disperse dyes are applied to the polyester fiber. A large quantity of these dyes is released in the TWWs due to their degree of fixation to fibers.