Until now, in most industrial vat dyeing processes, vat dyes are reduced mainly using sodium dithionite. This process produces large amounts of sodium sulphate and sulphite as by-products which increase the costs for waste water treatment. Hence, many attempts are being made to replace the environmentally unfavourable sodium dithionite by ecologically more attractive alternatives, such as organic reducing agents or catalytic hydrogenation. In recent investigations to improve the biocompatibility of the vatting process even further, various electrochemical reducing methods have been described, such as indirect electrochemical reduction employing a redox mediator, direct electrochemical reduction of indigo via the indigo radical, electrocatalytic hydrogenation and direct electrochemical reduction of indigo itself on graphite. These methods offer tremendous environmental benefits, since they minimize the consumption of chemicals as well as effluent load. However, most of these electrochemical processes are still in the development stage. This article gives an overview of the processes most commonly used and the state of development of recent electrochemical innovations.