Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata-700 009, India E-mail : akmitra@cucc.ernet.in Fax : 91-33-23519755 Manuscript received 16 September 2002, revised 1 April 2003, accepted 5 May 2003 Piperazine has been used successfully as a catalyst for the Knoevenagel condensation of ethyl cyanoacetate and aromatic aldehydes along with the rate enhancement by microwave irradiation under solvent-free condition.