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Abstract Aerobic granules were successfully cultivated at 10 °C with relatively low strength substrate. Stable granules coexisted with the batt-like sludge (BLS) were obtained in 60 days. After removing the BLS, nutrient removal performance was greatly improved and stable removal efficiencies of 99% phosphorous, 98% ammonia and 60% TN were achieved. The bacterial community structure revealed that it was an unclassified-Comamonadaceae genus dominant in the BLS, which represented for low relative abundance in mature granules. Overgrowth of unclassified-Comamonadaceae genus was considered to be the key factor for inhibiting the performance of granules. The final configuration of granules was dominated by DPAO genus Flavobacterium and polysaccharide nutritional genus Chryseolinea. This study showed that stable aerobic granules with superior performance under low temperature could be successfully cultivated by sieving out the BLS. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Stable aerobic granules can be cultivated at 10 °C by sieving out the batt-like sludge. • The system was operated at low temperature and low substrate strength conditions. • The batt-like sludge greatly inhibited the nutrient removal performance. • An unclassified-Comamonadaceae genus was dominant in the batt-like sludge. • Genera Flavobacterium and Chryseolinea dominated in the final granules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]