The phototrophic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris has been reported to be versatile in photometabolism of aromatic compounds. However, the kinetics of degradation of aromatic compounds by R. palustris appears not to have been reported in the literature. In this laboratory a photosynthetic bacterium that was identified as Rhodopseudomonas palustris(bp) was isolated from a sample collected from a canal where refinery wastewater was discharged. The paper presents the results of the growth of the isolate on different aromatic compounds, their catabolic pathways, and the kinetics of their degradation. The doubling time of the isolate was found to be 23, 22, 17, 27, 20, 24, and 26 h for benzoate, p-hydroxybenzoate, cinnamate, p-coumarate, phenyl valerate, phenyl acetate, and cinnamyl alcohol respectively. It was also found that cinnamate, phenyl valerate, phenyl acetate, and cinnamyl alcohol were converted to benzoate, while p-coumarate was converted to p-hydroxybenzoate. The substrate inhibition constant (Ki) was found to be 1082, 1178, 1362, 1260, 3098, 1347, and 322 mg/L for benzoate, p-hydroxybenzoate, cinnamate, p-coumarate, phenyl valerate, phenyl acetate, and cinnamyl alcohol respectively.