This study deals with the decolorization of black liquor (BL) by isolated potential bacterial consortium comprising Serratia marcescens (GU193982), Citrobacter sp. (HQ873619) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (GU193983). The decolorization of BL was studied by using the different nutritional as well as environmental parameters. In this study, result revealed that the ligninolytic activities were found to be growth associated and the developed bacterial consortium was efficient for the reduction of COD, BOD and color up to 83%, 74% and 85%, respectively. The HPLC analysis of degraded samples of BL has shown the reduction in peak area compared to control. Further, the GC-MS analysis showed that, most of the compounds detected in control were diminished after bacterial treatment while, formic acid hydrazide, 4-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid, carbamic acid, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid and erythropentanoic acid were found as new metabolites. Further, the seed germination test using Phaseolus aureus has supported the detoxification of bacterial decolorized BL. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.