diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 8657020..1d6c190 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -263,6 +263,9 @@ Usage
       -p PACKAGES, --packages PACKAGES
                             Comma separated list of select packages to show in the
                             output. If set, --all will be ignored.
+      -e PACKAGES, --exclude PACKAGES
+                            Comma separated list of select packages to exclude from
+                            the output. If set, --all will be ignored.
       -j, --json            Display dependency tree as json. This will yield "raw"
                             output that may be used by external tools. This option
                             overrides all other options.
diff --git a/pipdeptree.py b/pipdeptree.py
index 7283281..4d09141 100644
--- a/pipdeptree.py
+++ b/pipdeptree.py
@@ -280,8 +280,8 @@ class ReqPackage(Package):
                 'required_version': self.version_spec}
 
 
-def render_tree(tree, list_all=True, show_only=None, frozen=False):
-    """Convert to tree to string representation
+def render_tree(tree, list_all=True, show_only=None, frozen=False, exclude=None):
+    """Convert tree to string representation
 
     :param dict tree: the package tree
     :param bool list_all: whether to list all the pgks at the root
@@ -291,6 +291,8 @@ def render_tree(tree, list_all=True, show_only=None, frozen=False):
                           output. This is optional arg, default: None.
     :param bool frozen: whether or not show the names of the pkgs in
                         the output that's favourable to pip --freeze
+    :param set exclude: set of select packages to be excluded from the
+                          output. This is optional arg, default: None.
     :returns: string representation of the tree
     :rtype: str
 
@@ -310,6 +312,8 @@ def render_tree(tree, list_all=True, show_only=None, frozen=False):
         nodes = [p for p in nodes if p.key not in branch_keys]
 
     def aux(node, parent=None, indent=0, chain=None):
+        if exclude and (node.key in exclude or node.project_name in exclude):
+            return []
         if chain is None:
             chain = [node.project_name]
         node_str = node.render(parent, frozen)
@@ -527,6 +531,11 @@ def get_parser():
                             'Comma separated list of select packages to show '
                             'in the output. If set, --all will be ignored.'
                         ))
+    parser.add_argument('-e', '--exclude',
+                        help=(
+                            'Comma separated list of select packages to exclude '
+                            'from the output. If set, --all will be ignored.'
+                        ), metavar='PACKAGES')
     parser.add_argument('-j', '--json', action='store_true', default=False,
                         help=(
                             'Display dependency tree as json. This will yield '
@@ -548,10 +557,13 @@ def get_parser():
     return parser
 
 
-def main():
+def _get_args():
     parser = get_parser()
-    args = parser.parse_args()
+    return parser.parse_args()
 
+
+def main():
+    args = _get_args()
     pkgs = get_installed_distributions(local_only=args.local_only,
                                            user_only=args.user_only)
 
@@ -600,10 +612,15 @@ def main():
             return_code = 1
 
     show_only = set(args.packages.split(',')) if args.packages else None
+    exclude = set(args.exclude.split(',')) if args.exclude else None
+
+    if show_only and exclude and (show_only & exclude):
+        print('Conflicting packages found in --packages and --exclude lists.', file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(1)
 
     tree = render_tree(tree if not args.reverse else reverse_tree(tree),
                        list_all=args.all, show_only=show_only,
-                       frozen=args.freeze)
+                       frozen=args.freeze, exclude=exclude)
     print(tree)
     return return_code
 
diff --git a/tests/test_pipdeptree.py b/tests/test_pipdeptree.py
index 1e13920..94b4f49 100644
--- a/tests/test_pipdeptree.py
+++ b/tests/test_pipdeptree.py
@@ -6,11 +6,13 @@ from contextlib import contextmanager
 from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
 from operator import attrgetter
 
+import pytest
+
 from pipdeptree import (build_dist_index, construct_tree,
                         DistPackage, ReqPackage, render_tree,
                         reverse_tree, cyclic_deps, conflicting_deps,
                         get_parser, render_json, render_json_tree,
-                        dump_graphviz, print_graphviz)
+                        dump_graphviz, print_graphviz, main)
 
 
 def venv_fixture(pickle_file):
@@ -122,6 +124,42 @@ def test_render_tree_list_all():
     assert 'itsdangerous==0.23' in lines
 
 
+def test_render_tree_exclude():
+    tree_str = render_tree(tree, list_all=True, exclude={'itsdangerous', 'SQLAlchemy', 'Flask', 'markupsafe', 'wheel'})
+    assert tree_str == """\
+alembic==0.6.2
+  - Mako [required: Any, installed: 0.9.1]
+Flask-Script==0.6.6
+gnureadline==6.3.8
+ipython==2.0.0
+Jinja2==2.7.2
+Lookupy==0.1
+Mako==0.9.1
+psycopg2==2.7.3.2
+redis==2.9.1
+slugify==0.0.1
+Werkzeug==0.9.4"""
+
+
+def test_render_tree_exclude_reverse():
+    rtree = reverse_tree(tree)
+
+    tree_str = render_tree(rtree, list_all=True, exclude={'itsdangerous', 'SQLAlchemy', 'Flask', 'markupsafe', 'wheel'})
+    assert tree_str == """\
+alembic==0.6.2
+Flask-Script==0.6.6
+gnureadline==6.3.8
+ipython==2.0.0
+Jinja2==2.7.2
+Lookupy==0.1
+Mako==0.9.1
+  - alembic==0.6.2 [requires: Mako]
+psycopg2==2.7.3.2
+redis==2.9.1
+slugify==0.0.1
+Werkzeug==0.9.4"""
+
+
 def test_render_tree_freeze():
     tree_str = render_tree(tree, list_all=False, frozen=True)
     lines = set()
@@ -298,3 +336,37 @@ def test_conflicting_deps():
         flask: [jinja],
         uritemplate: [simplejson],
     }
+
+
+def test_main_basic(monkeypatch):
+    parser = get_parser()
+    args = parser.parse_args('')
+
+    def _get_args():
+        return args
+    monkeypatch.setattr('pipdeptree._get_args', _get_args)
+
+    assert main() == 0
+
+
+def test_main_show_only_and_exclude_ok(monkeypatch):
+    parser = get_parser()
+    args = parser.parse_args('--packages Flask --exclude Jinja2'.split())
+
+    def _get_args():
+        return args
+    monkeypatch.setattr('pipdeptree._get_args', _get_args)
+
+    assert main() == 0
+
+
+def test_main_show_only_and_exclude_fails(monkeypatch):
+    parser = get_parser()
+    args = parser.parse_args('--packages Flask --exclude Jinja2,Flask'.split())
+
+    def _get_args():
+        return args
+    monkeypatch.setattr('pipdeptree._get_args', _get_args)
+
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit):
+        main()
diff --git a/tests/virtualenvs/testenv_requirements.txt b/tests/virtualenvs/testenv_requirements.txt
index eeae223..4e9b266 100644
--- a/tests/virtualenvs/testenv_requirements.txt
+++ b/tests/virtualenvs/testenv_requirements.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ MarkupSafe==0.18
 SQLAlchemy==0.9.1
 Werkzeug==0.9.4
 alembic==0.6.2
-gnureadline==6.3.3
+gnureadline==6.3.8
 ipython==2.0.0
 itsdangerous==0.23
 psycopg2==2.7.3.2