The effect of different reactor packing materials on the nonthermal plasma (NTP) assisted decomposition of hydrogen sulfide (H 2S) in a coaxial dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor has been described in the present investigation. The packing materials studied include ceramic beads, glass material with different geometries like spherical (glass beads), hollow cylinder (glass tubes) and honeycomb (glass wool), and for comparison the reaction was carried out in the absence of any packing material. The packing material studied in the present work do not exhibit any catalytic activity in the traditional sense; however, they do have different dielectric constants and morphologies that may influence the plasma discharge behavior and may also affect the residence time of the gas molecules in the discharge zone. From the experimental results, it has been found that the ceramic pellets and hollow cylindrical glass material packed reactor showed better performance for H 2S decomposition into H 2 and S. © 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.