REVIEW PAPER Photosynthetic bacteria: an eco-friendly and cheap tool for bioremediation Ahmad Idi • Muhamad Hanif Md Nor • Mohd Firdaus Abdul Wahab • Zaharah Ibrahim Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014 Abstract Environmental management is crucial for sustainable growth and development. The use of microorganisms to clean up contaminated environ- ment provides cheap alternative method to the conventional treatment methods. But the choice of easily grown, viable and effective natural occurring microorganism to do the cleaning is a major challenge. In this article we presented and reviewed the applica- tion of photosynthetic bacteria in bioremediation due to their utilisation of various kinds of pollutants, minimum nutrients requirement and the possibility of generating valuable products concomitantly cleaning the contaminated environment. Pollutants such as pesticides, heavy metals, dyes, crude oil and odour with the specific photosynthetic bacteria capable of degrading the pollutants were identified and discussed in this article. The possible value added products to be generated as well as the mechanism of degradation are also highlighted and discussed in the article. The utilisation of carbon dioxide and the generation of value added products while cleaning up polluted environment are the major advantages of using these bacteria in bioremediation and have both environ- mental and economic benefits. Keywords Biodegradation Á Bioremediation Á Cyanobacteria Á Photosynthetic bacteria Á Purple phototrophic bacteria Á Purple sulphur bacteria Á Purple non sulphur bacteria 1 Introduction Increase in human activities such as in agriculture, industries, urbanisation and population produce pollu- tants that are harmful to the environment. Industries like biorefineries are constantly faced with the challenge of finding an economical and efficient treatment process before discharging their effluent (ElMekawy et al. 2013). This effluent may include heavy metals, xeno- biotic compounds, phenolic compounds, nitroaromatic compounds, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls and pesticides. When these pollutants find their way into the environment, they do not only affect the environment but also the life of living organisms in the environment. For example, a study conducted by Rawson (1985) revealed that prolong exposure to multiple pesticides has a great effect on both kidney and liver. Heavy metals and some volatile organic compounds are non- degradable and are very difficult to remove from the environment as such they pose a great health risk (Radway et al. 1999). Chemical and biological treat- ment methods are the main techniques employed in removing such pollutants from the environment. A. Idi Á M. H. Md Nor Á M. F. Abdul Wahab Á Z. Ibrahim (&) Department of Biosciences and Health Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia e-mail: zaharah@fbb.utm.my 123 Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol DOI 10.1007/s11157-014-9355-1