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Water resources such as rivers and oceans an indispensable resource for the living. The present investigation was carried out for biodegradation of industrial effluent by using bacterial isolates immobilized in PDMS sponges. Bacterial isolates DP4 Bacillus and DP7 Stenotrophomonas (black cotton soil of Maharashtra, India) was performed to degrade the industrial spentwash. In first experiment, effluent was added to the nutrient broth (NB) inoculated with DP4 and DP7 strains in different flasks containing PDMS sponges. DP4 strain degraded 84% of melanoidin as compared to DP7 strain, which degraded 50% melanoidin in 6 days. In second experiment, both bacterial strains were inoculated in (i) NB media (ii) immobilized in PDMS sponges, inoculated in NB media and the effluent was added. Degradation of melanoidin was determined at intervals of 24h using spectrophotometer (OD 520nm). Immobilized cells degraded melanoidin better than free cells and Bacillus DP4 showed a higher degradation rate as compared to Stenotrophomonas DP7. • Immobilized bacterial isolates were used to degrade melanoidins from spent wash. • Biodegradation efficiency of free and immobilized cells were compared. • Melanoidin degradation was improved using 'repeated addition' strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]