The paper studied the variation of algal activity during the electrochemical inactivation and the influence factors by the use of TTC-dehydrogenase activity and neutral red staining assays. The treatment reactor was consisted of Ti/RuO2 rod as anode and stainless steel pipe as cathode. The results showed that algal inactivation rate was 45% in cell density after 30 min treatment at 8 mA/cm2. Whereas the decrease of TTC-dehydrogenase activity was 94% and neutral red staining percentage was 100%. The algae after treatment was unable to regrow and it revealed that the algal activity assays can reflect the inactivation effect more correctly than cell density. The electrolytes could influence the inactivation efficiency. The electrolytes of Na2SO4 and NaNO3 had similar effects on algal inactivation and Na2SO4 concentration had small influence on the treatment. However, when the electrolyte contained 0.1 mmol/L NaCl, the algal inactivation was improved obviously with the 87% for TTC-dehydrogenase activity decrease and 82% for neutral red staining ratio. The initial algal concentration also influenced the treatment efficiency. If cell density increased, the inactivation efficiency decreased significantly. All algal cells in samples with cell density of 4.4 x 10(7) cells/L were completely inactivated by the use of natural water as electrolyte within 1 minute.