The suitability of culture supernatant from Streptomyces albus ATCC 3005 for use in the biobleaching of eucalyptus kraft pulp was investigated. S. albus was found to grow on a minimal salts medium containing oat spells xylan and yeast extract as the main carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. Maximal extracellular xylanase and peroxidase production was detected after 120 h (11.97 U ml(-1)) and 72 h (0.58 U ml(-1)), respectively. Importantly, no cellulase activity could be detected. When the effect of pH on enzyme activity was examined. maximal xylanase and peroxidase activity was obtained at pH 6.5 and pH 9.9, respectively. The optimum hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration for peroxidase activity was found to occur at 20 mM, with peroxidase remaining active at 100 mM H2O2 after 1 h incubation at 53 degreesC; the half-life of the enzyme at that temperature was estimated to be 33 min. Short-term (1 h) biobleaching of eucalyptus kraft pulp with culture supernatant from S. albus in the presence of H2O2 resulted in a significant reduction of kappa number (2.85 units) with no change in viscosity. These results suggest a potential application of cellulase-free culture supernatants from S. albus in biobleaching.