Insecticide-treated net is currently the best available method to control malaria. The extensive use of pyrethroid insecticides and the challenges of mosquito resistance to these chemical compounds are the main reasons for undertaking this study. The excito-repellency impacts of three different concentrations of three synthetic pyrethroid insecticide (lambdacyhalothrin, deltamethrin and cyfluthrin) impregnated bednets were evaluated against the susceptible and endophilic primary malaria vector, Anopheles stephensi Liston (Diptera: Culicidae) India susceptible strain under laboratory conditions. Young unfed female adult mosquitoes were exposed to animal bait covered with net in a dark exposure chamber. For each test, the results of mosquitoes' behavior were recorded after half an hour as dead, survived, blood-fed, recovered and retrieved in the exit trap. These studies clearly showed that populations of malaria vectors can be effectively controlled by the use of pyrethroid-treated bednets. The results inferred that deltamethrin was partially superior to other insecticides in terms of toxicity and revealed that cyfluthrin was clearly least effective and deltamethrin was most effective. The latter was 1.6 and 2.0 times more effective than lambdacyhalothrin and cyfluthrin, respectively, in killing An. stephensi mosquitoes. In addition, the mean recovery rate due to deltamethrin was 3.8 and 2.4 times less effective than cyfluthrin and lambdacyhalothrin, respectively. In conclusion, these data ranked the relative potency of the three pyrethroids in the order deltamethrin > lambdacyhalothrin > cyfluthrin. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.