In this paper, an application of homotopy perturbation method is applied to solve the nonlinear two-dimensional wave equation. The analytic solution of the nonlinear wave equation is calculated in the form of a series with easily computable components. The non-homogenous equation is effectively solved by employing the phenomena of the self-canceling "noise" terms, where sum of components vanishes in the limit. Comparing the methodology with some known techniques shows that the present approach is powerful and reliable. Its remarkable accuracy properties are finally demonstrated by an example. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.