Comparison of the bioremoval and recovery of Cd(II) by growing and grown marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. SCSE709-6 was performed in batch systems. Bioremoval with growing cells (Sorption I) showed better performance at low Cd(II) concentrations, whereas bioremoval with grown cells (Sorption II) had significant advantages in both removal efficiency and time consumption at high Cd(II) concentrations. The optimal pH was higher for Sorption I than for Sorption II for achieving the maximum Cd(II) removal efficiency. Complete desorption was achieved using either Na(2)EDTA or HNO3 as eluent. Cd(II) adsorbed on grown cells had higher tendency to be desorbed. Na(2)EDTA was a preferable eluent for the recycling biomaterials, whereas HNO3 performed better for the final security disposal of sludge. For Sorption II, both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms well explained the biosorption behavior, and the pseudo-second-order model better expressed biosorption and desorption kinetics. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.