A bio-contact oxidation reactor integrated with filter bed (COR-FB) was developed for decentralized treatment of sewage, which consisted of a biofilm reactor and a gravitational filter bed. It has been investigated to treat municipal wastewater for reuse. The evaluation of COR-FB performance demonstrates that it produced good quality effluent regarding carbonaceous compound, nitrogenous compound, suspended solid and fecal coliform. The efficiencies of COD, NH4+-N, TN, TP and turbidity removal were 90.7%, 81.4%, 64.6%, 60.1% and 96.7%, respectively. The residual geometric mean of fecal coliform counts in the final effluent of COR-FB was only 7.8 x 10(3) MPN/10(3) ml, corresponding to removal value of 3.8 log10. However, TP removal indicates the necessity of an addition of a bagger and mud valve or an enhanced chemical phosphorus removal prior to treated water reuse. Microfauna communities were monitored in COR-FB, which was found to contain 5 genres and 19 species in the biofilm layer Also, a simple kinetics model for COR-FB was developed based on the influent, effluent soluble COD concentration and the reaction time by regression simulation. In general, available data proved that COR-FB system can be recommended as a compact and cost-effective technology for decentralized treatment of sewage, especially for developing countries. (C) 2012 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.