Simulated wastewater of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) was treated under anaerobic conditions with co-substrates such as ammonium chloride, dextrose, sodium acetic, sodium nitrate and sulfate. The results showed that with nitrogen compounds such as ammonium chloride added as co-substrate, no significant change was observed, indicating that the molar ratio of N/C for RDX and HMX is sufficient for biodegradation. With the addition of dextrose and acetate to the system, biodegradation efficiency was enhanced greatly. For example, with dextrose as the co-substrate, degradation efficiency of 99.1% and 98.5% was achieved for RDX and HMX, respectively, after treatment for 7 days. When sodium acetic was used as the co-substrate, the enhancement of degradation percentage was similar, but was not as high as that with dextrose, indicating the selectivity of RDX and HMX to co-substrate during anaerobic degradation. With sodium nitrate as the co-substrate, the degradation efficiency of RDX or HMX decreased with the increase of salt concentration. Sodium sulfate has no significant effect on the biodegradation of RDX and HMX. A well-selected co-substrate should be employed in applications for degradation of RDX and HMX wastewaters. (C) 2015 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.