Short-time aerobic digestion (STAD) is a promising technique for waste activated sludge (WAS) stabilization. As a widely used surfactant, cocoamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) could enter wastewater treatment system and influence the WAS properties. It is of big significance to ascertain its influences on the STAD of WAS. CAPB was found to promote the fast removal of organics in WAS. Within 24 h, the removal rate of VSS was up to 283%, while no more than 20% was reported in previous studies. The biodegradation rate constants of both VSS and TCOD were increased over 65%. Due to special features of surfactant, CAPB aroused rapid releases of SCOD, PO43--P, NH4+-N and TN within 2 h, and then their values gradually decreased under the aerobic digestion. CAPB was also biodegraded by the system, and the removal rate at 24 h was 91.2%. The biodegradation route contained extracellular adsorption/desorption and aerobic biodegradation. Biodegradable CAPB could lead to a promising performance of the STAD process for WAS and resulted in zero waste discharge from the treatment system. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.