In recent years interest in the fate of chemical compounds in the aquatic environment has increased. There are many reports of the presence of chemical compounds such as pesticides, steroid hormones or antibiotics in the aquatic environment. At present, little is known about synthetic organic dyes as contaminants of water bodies. These dyes are omnipresent in many application areas from the textile, tannery, cosmetic and food industries to human and veterinary medicine. Their large-scale production and widespread applications have caused synthetic organic dyes to permeate into different compartments of water and soil environment. So far, dyes have been determined in environmental samples such as water, suspended particulate matters, sediment and wild fish. For this reason, they are considered micropollutants of aquatic ecosystems. Due to the toxicological properties and pharmacological activity of some synthetic organic dyes their occurrence in water bodies should be monitored. The hazard potential of synthetic organic dyes should be assessed, especially their influence on aquatic biota, not least because dyes in water ecosystems may pose a threat to animal or human health as higher-order consumers. This review collects scientific data considering application areas, toxicity, sources, environmental occurrence and the fate of synthetic organic dyes and the ecological implications of synthetic organic dyes presence in the total environment. Moreover, analytical methods for dye determination and methods for dye removal from wastewater are described.