Direct decomposition of nitrous oxide (N2O) was studied in a non-thermal plasma (NTP) dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor operated under ambient conditions. Influence of various parameters like discharge gap, input power, residence time, and N2O concentration were studied to achieve high conversions. The conversion decreased with increasing flow rate and N2O concentration. Typical results indicated that N2O decomposition may be efficient at high residence time and low concentrations. The degree of N2O decomposition varied between 30 and 100% with the power variation between 0.5 and 2.7 W. Interesting observation is that packing the discharge volume with dielectric materials (ceramic, glass, and Al 2O3 beads) improved the conversion. Under the same experimental conditions, the effect of the dielectric materials followed the order: ceramic beads > glass beads > Al2O3 beads > no packing. It was concluded that packed bed plasma reactor may be an efficient way for the reduction of N2O emissions. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.