A kind of inexpensive and environmental friendly mineral, the raw bauxite has been used successfully as a catalyst combined with ozonation in the degradation of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA). The catalyst was characterized by using various analytical techniques. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) characterization showed that the raw bauxite containing boehmite (gamma-AIOOH), kaolinite (Al2Si2O5(OH)(4)) and quartz (SiO2), and gamma-AIOOH was the major composition. The catalytic ozonation removal effectiveness of TCA was investigated under various physicochemical conditions. Both the adsorption and the single ozonation were not effective for the degradation of TCA, and the presence of the raw bauxite in ozonation enhanced the TCA removal effectiveness. Both the hydroxyl radicals ((OH)-O-center dot) scavenging experiment and R-ct characterization confirmed that the generation of (OH)-O-center dot was accounted for the enhancement of the degradation of TCA. The generation of (OH)-O-center dot was inhibited faintly by the presence of both natural organic matters (NOMs) and alkalinity in the natural water during catalyzed ozonation with the raw bauxite. The increasing of both the bauxite dosage and the ozone dosage enhanced the removal effectiveness of TCA. The raw bauxite was an efficient green catalyst for TCA degradation in drinking water. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.