Sludge drying beds may be classified into five main types: conventional sand drying bed (CSDB), paved drying bed (PDB), wedge-wire, vacuum assisted, and solar drying bed. In this research, three configurations of PDBs were investigated experimentally in order to determine the best configuration by using drainage pipe placed in different locations in the basin, covered by geo-textile membrane and fine gravel filter. The best configuration of modified PDBs was compared with the CSDB. The effect of sludge layer height (30, 50, and 72 cm) and sludge types (waste activated sludge (WAS), thickened combined primary and waste activated sludge (CPAS), primary sludge and trickling filter humus) on the performance of modified PDB have been also studied. The results showed that using two pipes in the PDB; one in the bottom channel of the tank and the other in the corner of the tank is the best configuration that achieved a higher drainage water ratio in shorter drying time. The maximum dried solid content achieved by the CSDB was 16% after 12 d of drying, whereas the same solid content was achieved by the modified PDB after only 3.5 d of drying and the solid content increased to 47% after 12 d of drying. The results also showed that the best sludge layer height is 50 cm where the maximum dried solid content achieved by the modified PDB was 52% after 12 d of drying. The WAS and the thickened CPAS have the highest dried sludge solid content which was about 52%, 55% compared to the other types for 12 d of drying time. The modified PDB achieved the highest solid loading rate (598 kg/m 2 y) to obtain 20% dried solid content compared to the conventional PDB (191 kg/m 2 y) and conventional sand drying bed (225 kg/m y).