The electrochemical oxidation of phenolic wastewater in a lab-scale reactor, packed into granular activated carbon (GAC) with Ti/SnO2 anodes and stainless steel cathodes, was interpreted in this study. GAC saturated rapidly if it was only used as sorbent, but application of suitable electric energy for the system simultaneously could recover the adsorption ability of GAC and maintain the continuous running effectively. The titanium dioxide (TiO2) as catalyst and airflow were also applied to the electrochemical reactor to examine the enhancement for phenol oxidation process. Results revealed that the electrochemical degradation of phenol could be reasonably described by first-order kinetics. In addition, it was illustrated that acid region, increased voltage, more dosage of TiO2 and higher aeration intensity were all beneficial parameters for phenol oxidation rates. By inspecting the relationship between the rate constants (k) and influencing factors. respectively, an overall kinetic model for phenol oxidation was proposed. The kinetics obtained from the experiments under corresponding electrochemical conditions could provide an accurate estimation of phenol concentration effluent and better design of the packed bed reactor. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.