The emulsion liquid membrane technique was used for the extraction of hexavalent chromium ions from aqueous solution of waste sodium clichromate recovered from the pharmaceutical industry wastewater. The liquid membrane used was composed of kerosene oil as the solvent, Span-80 as the surfactant and potassium hydroxide as internal reagent. Trioctyl amine and Aliquat-336 were used as carriers. The emulsion stability was carried out at different surfactant concentration, agitation speed and emulsification time. Statistical experimental design was applied for the optimization of process parameters for the extraction of chromium by emulsion liquid membrane. The effects of process parameters namely, agitation speed, membrane to emulsion (M/E) ratio and carrier concentration on the extraction of chromium were optimized using a response surface method. The optimum conditions for the extraction of chromium (VI) using response surface methodology for Trioctyl amine were: agitation speed - 201.369 rpm, M/E ratio - 0.5887% (v/v) and carrier concentration - 4.0932% (v/v) and for Aliquat-336: agitation speed 202.097 rpm, M/E ratio - 0.5873% (v/v) and carrier concentration - 3.9211% (v/v). At the optimized condition the maximum chromium extraction was found to be 89.2% and 96.15% using Trioctyl amine and Aliquat-336, respectively. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.