Five yellow disperse dyes were synthesized and their dyeing, fastness and photodegradation behaviors were investigated. It was found that dyes derived from phenylindole and N-alkylaminobenzene showed dye uptake directly proportional to the dye concentration, but the build-up of dyes derived from carbazole and pyridone were not good. The wavelength at maximum absorption. molar extinction coefficient. and the tendency to the photodegradation were strongly dependent on the electron donating ability of the coupling component. The dye, whose coupling component was phenylindole, possessed the excellent dyeing properties and the high degree of lightfastness. UVA had an effect on the inhibition of the photodegradation especially for the easily photodegradabte dyes.