On-site sanitation systems are typically installed to treat grey and toilet wastewaters in areas without sewer and centralized treatment systems. It is well known that, due to inappropriate design and operation, treatment performance of these systems in developing countries is not satisfactory in the removal of pathogens and organic matters. This research aimed to investigate the hydraulic conditions occurring in some on-site sanitation systems and the effects of hydraulic retention times (HRTs) on the system performance. The experiments were conducted with a laboratory-scale septic tank (40L in size) and an actual septic tank (600L in size), to test the hydraulic conditions by using tracer study with HRTs varying at 12, 24 and 48 hr. The experimental results showed the dispersion numbers to be in the range of 0.017-0.320 and the short-circuit ratios in the range of 0.014-0.031, indicating the reactors having a high level of sort-circuiting and approaching complete-mix conditions. The removal efficiency of $BOD_5$ was found to be 67% and the $k_{30}$ values for $BOD_5$ was $2.04day^{-1}$. A modified complete-mix model based on the relationship between $BOD_5$ removal efficiencies and HRTs was developed and validated with actual-scale septic tank data having a correlation coefficient ($R^2$) of 0.90. Therefore, to better protect our environment and minimizing health risks, new generation toilets should be developed that could minimize short-circuiting and improving treatment performance.