A riparian wetland (RW) was constructed in a river bend to study the effect of the addition of Bacillus subtilis FY99-01 on nitrate removal. Nitrate was removed more efficiently in the summer than in the winter owing to integrated hydraulic, microbial and environmental effects. The maximal nitrate removal and the mean nitrate loss rate in the RW were 36.1% and 50.5 g/m(2)/yr, respectively. Statistic analyses indicated that the redox potential was very significant to denitrification while organic matter in the outflow, temperature and nitrate in the inflow significantly affected nitrate removal. These results suggest that an RW can be a cost-effective approach to enhance microbial nitrate removal and can potentially be extended to similar river bends. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.