The effect of isolated bacterial strains on power generation in microbial fuel cell (MFC) using distillery wastewater as a substrate was investigated. The strains were isolated from wastewater and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequences. The isolated species was found to be of Bacillus types and the strains were designated as L. sphaericus SN-1, L. sphaericus SN-2 and B. safensis SN-3, respectively. The strains were used as biocatalyst for the generation of electricity and treatment of wastewater in the MFC. The result showed that each strain has different current generation capacity and wastewater treatment efficiency. The MFC inoculated with L. sphaericus SN-2 produced a maximum open -circuit voltage (OCV) of 646 +/- 5 mV and peak power density of 104 +/- 3 mW/m(2) with higher treatment efficiency of 63.4 +/- 0.5%. The effect of wastewater pH (6-8), COD concentration (3200,4800 and 6400 mg/L) and buffer on power generation in the MFC were investigated. Based on the performance of the MFC, L. sphaericus SN-2 can be used as a biocatalyst for electricity generation from the distillery wastewater. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.