_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: juliakpabio@yahoo.com; Advances in Research 4(1): 1-14, 2015, Article no.AIR.2015.055 ISSN: 2348-0394 SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org Potentials for Biosurfactant Enhanced Bioremediation of Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soil and Water–A Review Okoro Samson Eruke 1 and Akpabio Julius Udoh 2* 1 Department of Biochemistry, University of Port Harcourt, P.M.B 5323, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. 2 Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration between both authors. Author OSE designed the study, wrote the protocol and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Author AJU managed the literature searches, analyses of the study and final manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/AIR/2015/11933 Editor(s): (1) Yan Juan, Biotechnology Breeding, Sichuan Agricultural University, China. (2) Liwang Liu, Engineering Research Center of Horticultural Crop Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Ministry of Education, P. R. China and National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University P. R. China. Reviewers: (1) Anonymous, Canada. (2) Seema Dhail, Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biotechnology, International College for girls, Rajasthan University, Jaipur-302004, INDIA. (3) Anonymous, Brazil. (4) Anonymous, Poland. (5) Meliani Amina, Laboratory of Research of Biological Systems and Geomatic, Department of Biology, University Mascara, Algeria. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sciencedomain.org/review-history.php?iid=759&id=31&aid=7364 Received 10 th June 2014 Accepted 5 th November 2014 Published 17 th December 2014 ABSTRACT Bioavailability of Hydrophobic Organic Compounds (HOCs) to microorganisms could be a limiting factor during the biodegradation process. Application of surfactants to contaminated soil and water, at concentrations above their Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) values, can potentially reduce the interfacial tension, increase the solubility and bioavailability of HOCs and thus, facilitate their biodegradation. Studies with respect to enhanced bioremediation by surfactant addition have greatly focused on chemically synthetic surfactants. This paper reviews the potentials of Review Article