Large amount of seed cake is generated as by-product during biodiesel production from Jatropha seeds. Presence of toxic phorbol esters restricts its utilization as livestock feed. Safe disposal or meaningful utilization of this major by-product necessitates the degradation of these phorbol esters. The present study describes the complete degradation of phorbol esters by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PseA strain during solid state fermentation (SSF) of deoiled Jatropha curcas seed cake. Phorbol esters were completely degraded in nine days under the optimized SSF conditions viz. deoiled cake 5.0 g; moistened with 5.0 ml distilled water; inoculum 1.5 ml of overnight grown P. aeruginosa: incubation at temperature 30 degrees C, pH 7.0 and RH 65%. SSF of deoiled cake seems a potentially viable approach towards the complete degradation of the toxic phorbol esters. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.