The aim of this work was evaluate the efficiency of combined constructed wetlands, located in the Tiete Ecological Park in São Paulo, in water quality improvement. The station consists of a settling channel, one free-floating (Eichhornia crassipes, Salvinia auriculata, Pistia stratiotes) and rooted emergent macrophyte-based system (Typha angustifolia) with surface flow and two cells of vertical flow filter soils in parallel, planted with rice (Oryza sativa). The water samples were collected monthly at the inlet and outlet of each step of the system, in the period of February, March June and July of 2004 and of March to September of 2005. The physical, chemical and biological variables of the water were measured and efficiency rates of the system were made. The constructed wetlands system mainly showed efficient removal rates in sulphate (52%), turbidity (86%), BDO (41-64%), total phosphorus (51-68%), organic nitrogen (51,7%), nitrite (77,8%) and ammonia nitrogen (57-84%). The settling channel and macrophyte-based system presented a high removal performance for most of the variables analyzed in the work, contributing with the largest portion in the total removal rate of the system. During the study period, probably due to the lack of system management, the return of nutrients previously uptaken (N, P, Fe) by macrophytes for the water column was observed with the decay of aging plants and anaerobic conditions in the HDS system. Those factors, added with the presence of the park´s animals attracted for the rice, contributed with the low performance of macrophyte-based and HDS system in the removal of color, turbidity, total iron and coliforms in some months of collection. For most of the analyzed variables, the water treated by the constructed wetlands system reached the limits and patterns established by the Resolution CONAMA 357/2005 for fresh water of class 2 (BRAZIL, 2005). However, due to the obtained data, the treated water cannot be totally classified as class 2, although it is expected that with the stabilization of the system and appropriate handling, the treated water reach the demanded characteristics and can be classified in fresh water of class 2.