In this study, a sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC) was explored to bioremediate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water originated from soil. The results showed consistent power generations of 6.02 +/- 0.34 and 3.63 +/- 0.37 mW/m(2) under an external resistance of 1500 Omega by the aerobic and anaerobic SMFC, respectively. Although the power generations were low, they had relatively low internal resistances (i.e., 436.6 +/- 69.4 and 522.1 +/- 1.8 Omega for the aerobic and anaerobic SMFC, respectively) in comparison with the literature. Nevertheless, the significant benefit of this system was its bioremediation capabilities, achieving 41.7%, 31.4% and 36.2% removal of naphthalene, acenaphthene and phenanthrene, respectively, in the aerobic environment and 76.9%, 52.5% and 36.8%, respectively, in the anaerobic environment. These results demonstrated the ability of SMFCs in stimulating microorganisms for bioremediation of complex and recalcitrant PAHs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.