Soil is the base for all the biological activity in the ecosystem but it faces many undesirable effects due to the development of mankind. The discharge of toxic effluents from various industries destructively affects water resources, soil fertility, aquatic organisms and ecosystem integrity. The present work assesses the heavy metal concentration in soil and also the risk of heavy metals through contaminated sites having long term exposure around dyeing industries in Kondalampatti region of Salem district, Tamil Nadu. Nine polluted areas were identified and samples were collected from the surface 0-15 cm in each area. Electrical conductivity, pH, alkalinity, chloride, phosphate, sulphate, total organic carbon, available nitrogen, lead, arsenic, copper and iron were analysed. The pH of the samples was within the permissible limit whereas electrical conductivity of soil was significantly high, which is due to the ions present in the effluent. The alkalinity exceeds the Indian standard due to the purification agents used in the dyeing process. Concentration of major and minor trace elements were calculated, its concentration ordered as total organic content (174444 ppm) > available nitrogen (11052 ppm) > phosphate (952 ppm) > chloride (338 ppm) > phosphate (294 ppm). Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) studies showed that copper was predominantly present and the concentration of heavy metals was compared as copper (327.45 ppm) > iron (16.43 ppm) > lead (7.20 ppm) > arsenic (0.27 ppm). In addition, geoaccumulation index (Igeo) values signify that the soil in these study area is extremely contaminated with copper heavy metal. Assessment of contamination factor (CF) of lead (0.23) and arsenic (0.026) indicates that the area is not significantly polluted with those heavy metals. Whereas the higher CF value of copper (10.53) denotes that the area is extensively polluted with copper due to the dyeing effluent. Copper in excess reduces plant growth mineral nutrient uptake and photosynthetic activity. The assessed pollution load index (PLI) revealed that the study area is polluted significantly with the heavy metals from the dyeing effluents. © 2022 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.