Anaerobic bioreactor attracted more attention in recent years because of its environmental and financial benefits. Nutrients and moisture could exert profound influences on the degradation of the pollutants and stabilization of solid waste in anaerobic landfill. The objective of this work was to investigate the effects of the activated sludge and phosphorous addition on the stabilization of solid waste. The experimental results indicated that phosphorous is the limiting nutrients in the landfill leachate; phosphorous and activated sludge simultaneously could stimulate the growth of the bacteria, enhance the attenuation of pollutants in landfill leachate and accelerate the stabilization of solid waste; the final removal efficiency of COD and NH4+-N in R-C (phosphorous and activated sludge added simultaneously) was up to 95.13% and 73.4%, respectively. Therefore, phosphorous addition is an effective way to enhance the stabilization of solid waste in anaerobic landfill. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Institution of Chemical Engineers.