The study investigates the purification and characterisation of rhodanese from the liver of the tilapia fish (Oreochromis niloticus) collected from Asejire Lake in Nigeria. This was with a view to understanding the biochemical basis of the survival of the fish in cyanide polluted water. Rhodanese was isolated and purified from liver tissue homogenate of tilapia using CM-Sephadex ion exchange chromatography and Sephadex G-75 gel filtration. The specific activity of the enzyme was 56.86 U/mg. The Km values for KCN and Na2S2O3 as substrates were 0.1240 ± 0.0021 mM and 0.0516 ± 0.0097 mM, respectively. The apparent molecular weight was estimated by gel filtration on a Sephacyl S-400 column to be 35,460 Da. The optimal activity was found at pH 6.5 and the temperature optimum was 40°C. The rhodanese enzyme showed that the activity of the enzyme was not affected by MgCl2, KCl, NH4Cl, MnCl2 and CaCl2 while AlCl3, inhibited the enzyme. Key words: Cyanide, detoxification, tilapia, liver, rhodanese.