Simultaneous partial nitrification, anammox and denitrification (SNAD) process was successfully realized for treating low C/N ratio sewage, nitrogen and COD removal achieved to 3.26 kg m (3) d (1), 81%, respectively. The nitrogen removal performance, microbial community and distribution of the functional microorganisms were investigated. Results suggested that the presence of COD performed activity inhibition on both aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AerAOB) and anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB), and led to the number decreasing of both AerAOB and AnAOB. Even though COD presence resulted in the biodiversity increasing of AerAOB and decreasing of AnAOB, the dominant species were always Nitrosomonas and Candidatus brocadia during the whole experiment. Clone-sequencing of 16S rRNA results suggested the emergence of five different denitrifying species, which then led to a higher nitrogen removal. Results in this study demonstrated that the applied start-up strategy was feasible for SNAD process treating low C/N ratio sewage. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.