The degradation of organic matter in coloured solutions of different classes of dyes by ozonation in the presence of activated carbon is investigated. The kinetics of the decolourisation and mineralisation of three different dyes solutions (CI Acid Blue 113, CI Reactive Red 241 and CI Basic Red 14) were studied in a laboratory scale reactor by three different processes: adsorption on activated carbon, oxidation with ozone and ozonation in the presence of activated carbon. The mineralisation of the solutions was followed by measuring the total organic carbon (TOC). Under the experimental conditions used in this work, activated carbon was not capable of completely removing the colour of the solutions in reasonable time. On the other hand, ozonation quickly decolourised all the solutions, but satisfactory removal of TOC was never achieved by this process. The combination of activated carbon with ozone enhanced the decolourisation of the solutions and especially the mineralisation of the organic matter. Activated carbon acts both as an adsorbent and as a catalyst in the reaction of ozonation. The surface chemistry of the activated carbon is an important parameter; it was observed that basic samples improve TOC removal. The main conclusions of this work were validated by treating a real textile effluent collected after the conventional biological treatment.