Catalysts supported on aluminium pillared clays (Al-PILCs) using Fe and Pd or Rh as active phases have been prepared and tested for a two-step treatment of p-chloro-m-cresol (PCMC) in water by catalytic hydrodechlorination (HDC) followed by catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) under ambient -like conditions (25 degrees C,1 atm). Both processes were first studied independently. HDC was investigated with Pd and Rh monometallic catalysts as well as Pd -Fe and Rh -Fe bimetallic ones. The bimetallic Pd -Fe catalyst showed the best performance, allowing complete dechlorination in less than 1 h reaction time. On the other hand, CWPO of PCMC with a monometallic Fe catalyst allowed complete conversion of that pollutant but with only about 33% reduction of total organic carbon (TOC) after 4 h. Then, a two-step approach consisting in HDC of PCMC followed by CWPO has been tested for the first time in two different ways. The first one used a Pd -Fe bimetallic catalyst in both steps while in the second approach monometallic Pd and Fe catalysts were used for HDC and CWPO, respectively. The HDC in alkaline medium allowed reducing significantly Fe leaching. This second approach yielded complete dechlorination followed by higher mineralization (>55%) with better efficiency of H2 02 consumption. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.