Pentachlorophenol (PCP) degradation by fungi was studied in solid state cultures (SSC); these cultures can be used in different bioremediation strategies. We assessed the effect of medium composition and PCP initial concentration on growth of Amylomyces rouxii and PCP degradation. This fungus displayed a high degradation rate on PCP when tyrosine was added to the culture medium, 0.030 mg PCP mg(-1) biomass h(-1), as compared against a culture without tyrosine (0.017 mg PCP mg(-1) biomass h(-1)). Besides, results showed that growth and specific degradation were higher at high initial PCP concentration; at 100 mg PCP l(-1), 100% of initial PCP was degraded at 72 h, and 50% of PCP was degraded when initial PCP was 12.5 mg l(-1). In these cultures, specific degradation rates were 0.081 and 0.026 mg PCP mg(-1) biomass h(-1), respectively. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.