Spent mushroom compost (SMC) is a co-product of edible mushroom which contains abundant nutrients including organics, nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P). This study is related to the release potential of nitrogen, phosphate and organic matter from SMC amended soil in column-based experiments. Results showed that due to SMC application, NH4+-N and NO3--N concentrations in leachate decreased by 92.5% and 76.3%, respectively, while EC and CODCr concentrations increased by 84.2% and 481.9%, respectively, as compared to chemical fertilizers. Moreover, a minor loss of TNcum (65%) and TPcum (almost equal value) exhibited good nutrient retention capacity. Leaching test results demonstrated that the mixed application of SMC and chemical fertilizers could alleviate excessive CODCr level in SMC leachate. The release process of nutrients in SMC amended soil could be described by first/first order mixed model, indicating that nutrients leached from SMC follow a two-stage pattern. (C) 2015 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.