The feasibility of using ozonation pretreatment was investigated for a better performance of post microalgae-based wastewater remediation when treating piggery effluent which was anaerobically digested and subsequently micro-filtered. Ozonation pretreatment at a dose of 1.1 mg-O-3 mg-C-1 or higher significantly improved the transmittance of light illumination through the mixed liquor by decolorizing the piggery effluent as culture media, which resulted in increasing both the productivity of algal biomass and the associated removal of inorganic nutrients from the effluent. Ozonation also converted refractory organic constituents in the piggery effluent to a large number of biodegradable fractions via both partial-mineralization and low-molecularization. These fractions were facilely removed through biological assimilation during the mixotrophic cultivation of a microalga S. quadricauda. The results revealed that ozonation could be one of the most promising strategies for the pretreatment of highly-colored piggery effluent prior to algae-based wastewater treatment. (c) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.