The aim of this study was to develop an appropriate operating strategy for ammonia removal of young landfill leachate in a lab-scale sequencing batch reactor, SBR. SBR was operated at five different phases by changing the aerobic cycle time and external carbon source during the denitrification process. SBR provides the opportunity to arrange the operating periods according to variable conditions such as wastewater characterization in order to optimise the performance of the system. By monitoring the variations occurring in each period during a full cycle an appropriate operating strategy may be defined. The main problem faced during the experimentation period particularly was due to use of raw wastewater with high NH4-N content as an external carbon source, as it affected denitrification performance to a great extent. This trouble was overcome if calcium acetate was used as the external carbon source instead of the raw wastewater. In case of using a suitable aeration period and the convenient external carbon source, high ammonia removals were observed.