A promising gram-negative bacterial strain for the biodegradation of aniline as the sole carbon, nitrogen and energy sources was successfully isolated and identified as Delftia sp. XYJ6. The optimal temperature and pH for both the growth of Delftia sp. XYJ6 and the biodegradation of aniline were 30 degrees C and 7.0, respectively. Initial aniline of 2000 mg.L-1 could be completely removed by the strain at 22 h, which showed that Delftia sp. XYJ6 had a strong ability in the biodegradation of aniline. It indicated that aniline was firstly converted to catechol catalyzed by aniline dioxygenase as a first product, which was then further biodegraded to cis,cis-muconic acid catalyzed by the catechol 1,2-dioxygenase of Delftia sp. XYJ6 as a second product. Cis,cis-muconic acid could also be further biodegraded to other small compound again. The pathway for the biodegradation of aniline by Delftia sp. XYJ6 was not previously reported.