Efficient conversion of wheat straw wastes into biohydrogen gas by cow dung compost was reported for the first time. Batch tests were carried out to analyze influences of several environmental factors on biohydrogen production from wheat straw wastes. The performance of biohydrogen production using the raw wheat straw and HCl pretreated wheat straw was then compared in batch fermentation tests. The maximum cumulative hydrogen yield of 68.1 ml H-2/g TVS was observed at 126.5 h, the value is about 136-fold as compared with that of raw wheat straw wastes. The maximum hydrogen production rate of 10.14 ml H-2/g TVS h was obtained by a modified Gompertz equation. The hydrogen content in the biogas was 52.0% and there was no significant methane observed in this study. In addition, biodegradation characteristics of the substrate were also discussed. The experimental results showed that the pretreatment of the substrate plays a key role in the conversion of the wheat straw wastes into biohydrogen by the composts generating hydrogen. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.