Two types of discharge and two kinds of discharge reactors was employed to decompose trichloroethylene (TCE) in air. The results showed that both pulsed discharge and AC discharge were efficient to the degradation of TCE. Under the pulsed discharge with peak voltage of 42 kV, gas resident time of 15 s and TCE initial concentration of 1350 mg/m3, the degradation efficiency of TCE was close to 100% in the hallow reactor and the higher voltage results in a higher degradation efficiency. For the AC discharge, the degradation efficiency of TCE reached 90% with applied voltage of 30 kV. Meanwhile, increasing the applied frequency of AC voltage can enhance the degradation of TCE. The energy consumption for TCE degradation by AC discharge was higher than that by pulsed discharge. The energy consumption for TCE degradation efficiency of 80% by pulsed and AC discharge were 4.9 W.h/m3 and 116 W.h/m3, respectively. In addition, the energy consumption in the packed reactor was higher comparing with that in the hallow one.