A rapid enrichment approach based on a pentachlorophenol (PCP) feeding strategy which linked the PCP loading rate to methane production was applied to an upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor inoculated with anaerobic sludge. Due to this strategy, over a 140-day experimental period the PCP volumetric load increased from 2 to 65 mg L-R(-1) day-(1) with a near zero effluent concentration of PCP. Dechlorination dynamics featured sequential appearance of 3,4,5-chlorophenol, 3,5-chlorophenol, and 3-chlorophenol in the reactor effluent. Profiling of the reactor population by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) revealed a correlation between the appearance of dechlorination intermediates and bands on the DGGE profile. Nucleotide sequencing of newly detected 16S rDNA fragments suggested the proliferation of Clostridium and Syntrophobacter/Syntrophomonas spp. in the reactor during PCP degradation. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.