A new approach to determine the chemical oxygen demand (COD) using a closed microwave digestion (CMD) system to replace the conventional, time-consuming open reflux (OR) method is proposed. The procedure uses a laboratory-grade closed microwave digestion system (one magnetron) for the digestion of small volume of samples (3.0 mL) in a completely closed (90 mL) Teflon vessel, digesting 10 samples at a time in the range of COD values of 5-1000 mg L(-1). The digestion time required is 15 min as compared to the 2 h required for the conventional OR method. Chloride ion interference can be removed up to 6000 mg of Cl- ions L(-1) as compared to the 2000 mg of Cl- ions L(-1) removed by conventional OR method. The present work reveals that the filtration of effluent samples by membrane filter or homogenization is not essential to obtain reproducible results. The proposed method is cost-effective; saves time, energy, and reagents with providing precise results for both the pure organic compounds and wastewater samples; and is ecofriendly.