Decoloration of acidic scarlet GR by pyrolusite is studied in this paper. The effects of pH in solution, dosage and granularity of pyrolusite, reaction temperature, and vibration speed on decoloration efficiency are discussed. According to experiment results, the decoloration efficiency may exceed 95% for 40 mg/L GR solution by pyrolusite. pH is most important among all factors which impact the decoloration of acidic scarlet GR. Dosage and granularity of pyrolusite, reaction temperature, and vibration speed have a little benitfit on decoloration. The high decoloration efficiency and low removal efficiency of COD as well as FT-IR spectra of products between pyrolusite and acidic scarlet GR indicate that acidic scarlet GR undergoes the redox reaction on the interface of mineral and its chromophore is oxidated and decolored, but it is not removed thoroughly by oxidation.