Comamonas terrigena, strain N3H, which was isolated from soil polluted with crude oil products, degraded dioctyl sulphosuccinate, a synthetic commercial surfactant. The primary degradation of this compound, the cleavage of ester bonds between octyl groups and sulphosuccinate, lasted significantly shorter time than the subsequent breakdown of the sulphosuccinate moiety of dioctyl sulpho[2,3-C-14] succinate. (CO2)-C-14 evolution had a significant shorter lag period with cells in Tris/phosphate medium, without inorganic sulphate and adapted to surfactant, than unadapted cells. The acceleration of the primary degradation by adapted cells also suggest that some enzymes involved in surfactant degradation are inducible. The bacterium may be useful for bioremediation.