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With the increasing incidence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases, high consumption of the cardiovascular drug salbutamol (SAL) has made this compound an emerging pollutant in natural water and a challenge for traditional wastewater treatment. In this paper, an efficient advanced oxidation process was used to degrade SAL by electron beam (EB) irradiation. The results revealed that 100 mg L−1 of SAL could be nearly completely removed (95.1%) at 10 kGy and the degradation kinetic well followed pseudo first-order kinetic model. Different factors, including pH, inorganic ions and water matrix, had varying effects on the degradation of SAL owing to their important influence on the formation of reactive species in the aqueous solution. And it was found that e a q − played a major role in the degradation of SAL parent. Moreover, the addition of K 2 S 2 O 8 (20 mM) increased the SAL mineralization rate from 2.9% to 64.2%, suggesting that oxidation free radicals could greatly improve the mineralization rate of SAL. Combining with the theoretical calculations and determined degradation by-products, four possible degradation pathways of SAL by EB irradiation were proposed, including H • , • O H and e a q − all participated in the degradation of SAL. Finally, toxicity evaluation suggested that the toxicity of SAL aqueous solution reduced after EB irradiation, indicating that it is an effective method to degrade SAL. [Display omitted] • Electron beam irradiation was effective in degrading salbutamol. • e a q − played a major role in the degradation of salbutamol. • The addition of persulfate could promote the mineralization of salbutamol. • The possible degradation pathways of salbutamol were proposed. • The toxicity of salbutamol solution decreased after EB irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]