The present study explores the degradation of azo dye (Congo red) by catalytic wet peroxide oxidation using Fe exchanged commercial Y zeolite as a catalyst. The effects of various operating parameters like temperature, initial pH, hydrogen peroxide concentration and catalyst loading on the removal of dye, color and COD from an aqueous solution were studied at atmospheric pressure. The percent removals of dye, color and COD at optimum pH(0) 7, 90 degrees C using 0.6 ml H2O2/350 ml solution and 1 g/l catalyst was 97% (in 4 h), 100% (in 45 min) and 58% (in 4 h), respectively. The % dye removal has been found to be less in comparison to % color removal at all conditions, e.g. dye removal in 45 min and at above conditions was 82%, whereas the color removal was 100%. The results indicate that the Fe exchanged Y zeolite is a promising catalyst for dye removal. Fe exchanged catalyst is characterized using XRD, SEM/EDAX, surface area analyzer and FTIR. Though the dye, color and COD removals were maximum at pH(0) 2 but as the leaching of Fe from the catalyst was more in acidic pH range, pH(0) 7 was taken as operating pH due to almost comparable removals as of pH(0) 2 and no leaching of Fe ions. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.