Narrative:

After takeoff we were in a right hand turn to a heading and roughly climbing from 2000 to 5000 when we received a smoke toilet EICAS indication. Shortly after we received a call from the flight attendant. I then transferred the controls to the first officer and told him to set up for an approach to return to the airport. I then [advised] ATC. I then spoke with the flight attendant and he stated that an alarm was going off in the lavatory and that there was visible smoke in the cabin. I told him that we will be returning to the airport. I proceeded to give the flight attendant a briefing. I then proceeded to run the QRH for smoke toilet. The first officer had us set up on final approach as the controls were transferred back to me for landing. I informed the first officer that I told the flight attendant to anticipate an expedited deplaning upon landing and that we would further evaluate the cabin condition after landing. We landed and exited on an intersecting runway. Fire and rescue determined that there were not any hot spots from both inside and outside the aircraft. The flight attendant had also indicated that the smoke had cleared so we decided to keep the passengers on the aircraft. We then proceeded to return to a gate and deplaned the passengers.the cause of the event is unknown as the source of the smoke was not found. The aircraft had shown a history of the same indications twice in the last two months. I would suggest further maintenance diagnosis when there is visual indications of smoke.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-200 flight crew reported returning to departure airport after experiencing a 'SMOKE TOILET' message and the Flight Attendant reported smoke in the cabin.

Narrative: After takeoff we were in a right hand turn to a heading and roughly climbing from 2000 to 5000 when we received a SMOKE TOILET EICAS indication. Shortly after we received a call from the FA. I then transferred the controls to the First Officer and told him to set up for an approach to return to the airport. I then [advised] ATC. I then spoke with the Flight Attendant and he stated that an alarm was going off in the lavatory and that there was visible smoke in the cabin. I told him that we will be returning to the airport. I proceeded to give the FA a briefing. I then proceeded to run the QRH for SMOKE TOILET. The First Officer had us set up on final approach as the controls were transferred back to me for landing. I informed the First officer that I told the Flight Attendant to anticipate an expedited deplaning upon landing and that we would further evaluate the cabin condition after landing. We landed and exited on an intersecting runway. Fire and Rescue determined that there were not any hot spots from both inside and outside the aircraft. The Flight Attendant had also indicated that the smoke had cleared so we decided to keep the passengers on the aircraft. We then proceeded to return to a gate and deplaned the passengers.The cause of the event is unknown as the source of the smoke was not found. The aircraft had shown a history of the same indications twice in the last two months. I would suggest further maintenance diagnosis when there is visual indications of smoke.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.