Textile manufacturing is one of the core industries which discharges a heavy load of chemicals during the dying process. As a result, the release of large contents of dyes through aqueous effluents leads to both environmental and economic concerns. The present study investigates the removal of a model cationic dye, i.e., methylene blue using a reverse micelles system of 1-hexanol as an organic solvent and sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) as an anionic surfactant. The influence of different parameters including surfactant concentration, reaction time and dye concentration on extraction performance, was studied. Extraction efficiency was increased with increasing time and surfactant concentration, while it was decreased with the increase in dye concentration. For this system, the optimum extraction condition correspond to surfactant concentration around 0.05M, equilibrium time 20min and dye concentration around 500 ppm, resulting in extraction efficiencies around 99. The microdomains of water within the reverse micelle system are the driving force for the clarification of methylene blue dye from aqueous solution. © 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.