Treatment of olive mill wastewater by different biological process led to an important decrease of organic compounds but the black coloration due to the recalcitrant phenolic compounds persists. Experimental design using fractional factorial plan showed that, among the seven studied factors, yeast extract, dilution and glucose exhibited a positive effect on Pediococcus pentosaceus growth and treated olive mill wastewater (TOMW) decolourisation. Optimization of influent factors showed that 2.5 and 1 g/l are the suitable concentrations of glucose and yeast extract, respectively. Optimum TOMW decolourisation was reached when TOMW was diluted to 2.5 initial OD390 value. The growth of P. pentosaceus on TOMW led to high molecular weight phenolic compounds removal as shown by the sephadex G-50 chromatogram. Simple phenolic compound removal was also observed. Bacterial growth on TOMW induced an ecological removal of recalcitrant phenolic compounds without chemical sludge production. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.