diff --git a/aiida/orm/implementation/sqlalchemy/groups.py b/aiida/orm/implementation/sqlalchemy/groups.py
index 5302d4f0d6..ec6328c207 100644
--- a/aiida/orm/implementation/sqlalchemy/groups.py
+++ b/aiida/orm/implementation/sqlalchemy/groups.py
@@ -228,37 +228,56 @@ def check_node(given_node):
             # Commit everything as up till now we've just flushed
             session.commit()
 
-    def remove_nodes(self, nodes):
+    def remove_nodes(self, nodes, **kwargs):
         """Remove a node or a set of nodes from the group.
 
         :note: all the nodes *and* the group itself have to be stored.
 
         :param nodes: a list of `BackendNode` instance to be added to this group
+        :param kwargs:
+            skip_orm: When the flag is set to `True`, the SQLA ORM is skipped and SQLA is used to create a direct SQL
+            DELETE statement to the group-node relationship table in order to improve speed.
         """
+        from sqlalchemy import and_
+        from aiida.backends.sqlalchemy import get_scoped_session
+        from aiida.backends.sqlalchemy.models.base import Base
         from aiida.orm.implementation.sqlalchemy.nodes import SqlaNode
 
         super().remove_nodes(nodes)
 
         # Get dbnodes here ONCE, otherwise each call to dbnodes will re-read the current value in the database
         dbnodes = self._dbmodel.dbnodes
+        skip_orm = kwargs.get('skip_orm', False)
 
-        list_nodes = []
-
-        for node in nodes:
+        def check_node(node):
             if not isinstance(node, SqlaNode):
                 raise TypeError('invalid type {}, has to be {}'.format(type(node), SqlaNode))
 
             if node.id is None:
                 raise ValueError('At least one of the provided nodes is unstored, stopping...')
 
-            # If we don't check first, SqlA might issue a DELETE statement for an unexisting key, resulting in an error
-            if node.dbmodel in dbnodes:
-                list_nodes.append(node.dbmodel)
+        list_nodes = []
 
-        for node in list_nodes:
-            dbnodes.remove(node)
+        with utils.disable_expire_on_commit(get_scoped_session()) as session:
+            if not skip_orm:
+                for node in nodes:
+                    check_node(node)
+
+                    # Check first, if SqlA issues a DELETE statement for an unexisting key it will result in an error
+                    if node.dbmodel in dbnodes:
+                        list_nodes.append(node.dbmodel)
+
+                for node in list_nodes:
+                    dbnodes.remove(node)
+            else:
+                table = Base.metadata.tables['db_dbgroup_dbnodes']
+                for node in nodes:
+                    check_node(node)
+                    clause = and_(table.c.dbnode_id == node.id, table.c.dbgroup_id == self.id)
+                    statement = table.delete().where(clause)
+                    session.execute(statement)
 
-        sa.get_scoped_session().commit()
+            session.commit()
 
 
 class SqlaGroupCollection(BackendGroupCollection):
diff --git a/tests/backends/aiida_sqlalchemy/test_generic.py b/tests/backends/aiida_sqlalchemy/test_generic.py
index cba65a7abe..254f7f8c96 100644
--- a/tests/backends/aiida_sqlalchemy/test_generic.py
+++ b/tests/backends/aiida_sqlalchemy/test_generic.py
@@ -164,3 +164,33 @@ def test_group_batch_size(self):
             group = Group(label='test_batches_' + str(batch_size)).store()
             group.backend_entity.add_nodes(nodes, skip_orm=True, batch_size=batch_size)
             self.assertEqual(set(_.pk for _ in nodes), set(_.pk for _ in group.nodes))
+
+    def test_remove_nodes_bulk(self):
+        """Test node removal."""
+        backend = self.backend
+
+        node_01 = Data().store().backend_entity
+        node_02 = Data().store().backend_entity
+        node_03 = Data().store().backend_entity
+        node_04 = Data().store().backend_entity
+        nodes = [node_01, node_02, node_03]
+        group = backend.groups.create(label='test_remove_nodes', user=backend.users.create('simple2@ton.com')).store()
+
+        # Add initial nodes
+        group.add_nodes(nodes)
+        self.assertEqual(set(_.pk for _ in nodes), set(_.pk for _ in group.nodes))
+
+        # Remove a node that is not in the group: nothing should happen
+        group.remove_nodes([node_04], skip_orm=True)
+        self.assertEqual(set(_.pk for _ in nodes), set(_.pk for _ in group.nodes))
+
+        # Remove one Node
+        nodes.remove(node_03)
+        group.remove_nodes([node_03], skip_orm=True)
+        self.assertEqual(set(_.pk for _ in nodes), set(_.pk for _ in group.nodes))
+
+        # Remove a list of Nodes and check
+        nodes.remove(node_01)
+        nodes.remove(node_02)
+        group.remove_nodes([node_01, node_02], skip_orm=True)
+        self.assertEqual(set(_.pk for _ in nodes), set(_.pk for _ in group.nodes))