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Phenol is the major organic pollutant present in industrial waste water. Phenol biodegradation is the most efficient and cost-effective pollutants degradation technologies, it can also ensure a completely degradation of phenol on non toxic products. In this research our objective is to isolate a new bacterial strains with the ability of degrading phenol at high concentrations. Four phenol-degrading bacterium strain were successfully isolated from the effluent of industrial wastewater collected from Telamine Lake in the industrial area in Oran. Based on their morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics, all the strains were characterized as a Gram-negative, strictly aerobic, no motile and short rod-shaped bacterium that utilize phenol as a sole carbon and energy source. 16S rRNA sequence analysis revealed that these strains ENP1, ENP2, ENP3 and ENP4 were affiliated to Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas sp, Raoultella ornithinolytica and Klebisella Sp respectively in the group of Gammaproteo bacteria. All the strains were efficient in removing 99% of the initial 750 mg/L of phenol within 72 h and had a tolerance of phenol concentration as high as 1000 mg/L of phenol. Analysis of the gene of the largest subunit of the multi-component phenol hydroxylase (LmPH) in each isolate showed the presence of this one in all isolate and only the strains ENP1 and ENP2 had the Catechol 2,3-dioxygenases gene (C230). These results indicated that the strains ENP1, ENP2, ENP3 and ENP4 can be exploited for bioremediation of phenol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]