A laboratory scale upflow anaerobic fixed-bed reactor (UAF-B) packed with polypropylene pall rings as packing media was designed for treating effluent. UAF-B was used to treat dairy effluent at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 12 hours and at different organic loading rates (OLRs). It was observed that chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency and biogas production rates increased with increase in OLR and the average COD removal efficiency of 87% and maximum biogas production of 9.8 l/d was achieved. These results indicate the feasibility of UAF-B for dairy effluent treatment.