Abstract Microemulsion systems were used to remove chromium from an aqueous solution obtained from acid digestion of tannery sludge. The systems were composed by: coconut oil soap as surfactant, 1-butanol as cosurfactant, kerosene as the oil phase, and chromium solution as the aqueous phase. Two- and three-phase microemulsion extraction methods were investigated in the experiments. Viscosity, effective diameter of the droplets, and extraction and re-extraction efficiencies were evaluated for each system. Two- and three-phase systems showed small variations in droplet diameter, which can be attributed to the formation of micellar structures. Chromium recovery efficiencies for the studied systems were over 96%. The re-extraction step showed that the stripping solution used can release more than 96% of the chromium from the microemulsion phase. Experimental results confirm that chromium can be recovered efficiently using microemulsion systems.