Textile effluents are often contaminated with non-biodegradable organics termed as refractory materials. Detergents are typical example of such materials. The presence of these chemicals results in high chemical oxygen demand (COD) value of the effluent. Organic pollutants, which originate from organic compounds of dye stuffs, acids, sizing materials, enzymes, tallow etc. are also found in textile effluent, such impurities are reflected in the analysis of bio-chemical oxygen demand (BOD) and COD. These pollutants are controlled by use of biological treatment processes. In many textile units, particularly engaged in synthetic processing, low BOD/COD ratio of effluent is observed which makes even biological treatment not a ready proposition. The waste water of cotton based textile unit is usually alkaline, whereas synthetic and woollen fabric processing generates acidic effluent.