Abstract Relief classification methodologies seek to define the parameters that determine those parts of the terrestrial surface that present homogeneous forms and elements. The rapid development of geotechnology has increasingly provided tools and methodologies that assist in studies related to relief. The present work proposes a methodology to classify the relief in three taxonomic levels, using automated processing in a GIS environment. This procedure was applied in a case study of the Santa Maria River basin, in the west of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The digital data processing employed was the Geographic Information System ArcGIS® and the data from the SRTM 3 arc-second radar (90 meters) was the basis for the Digital Elevation Model. The processing for the first taxon used the amplitude and slope data to define four forms of relief: flat areas, slightly undulating hills, undulating hills, and hills with buttes and larger hills. In the second taxonomic level, ten relief elements were identified: flat, peak, ridge, shoulder, spur, slope, hollow, footslope, valley, and pit. In the third taxonomic level, the slope forms were characterized into eight units using the slope, profile, and curvature plane parameters. It was possible to detect the three proposed levels, the relief forms, relief elements, and slope forms. GIS processing offers a fast and precise definition of the relief forms and elements, and the slope forms, as well as the relationship between the three taxonomic levels.