A potent anaerobic consortium, isolated by enrichment method from cattle rumen, showed more than 85% decolorization of reactive dyes viz. Reactive Violet (RV 12), Reactive Red (RR 152) and Reactive Blue (RB 250) at concentration of 1000 mgL-1 each, within 48 h under strict anaerobic condition. A decolorization efficiency of 93.36–78.60% was obtained by developed anaerobic consortium, in 500 mL anaerobic sequential batch reactor (SBR) containing 500-2000 mgL-1 of dyes. The degradation was confirmed by TLC and FTIR. The remediation process was scaled up to 5L for RV 12 and actual textile dyeing unit’s wastewater containing a mixture of dyes. The developed consortium exhibited color removal (93.4%), COD removal (68.77%), TS reduction (48.77%) and TDS reduction (65.1%) in actual textile wastewater.
