Six biofilters were used for advanced treatment of Yangtze River source water to investigate the effects of hydraulic loading rate (HLR) on pollutant removal and microbial community. HLR was found to exert significant influences on the removal efficiency of the conventional pollutants and 24 detectable semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs). More than 85% of chemical oxygen demand and assimilable organic carbon was removed at the optimal HLR of 3.0 m h(-1). With the increase of HLR. SVOC removal showed a decreasing trend. Di-n-butyl phthalate and bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, two main SVOCs in the source water, had the highest removals of 71.2% and 84.4%, respectively. Nearly 65% of 2,6-dinitrotoluene and 80% of isophorone were removed at the lowest HLR. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Escherichia coli, Shigella sp., E. fergusonii and Firmicutes bacteria predominated in the bioreactors. The dominance of E. coli in the low-HLR biofilters might contribute greatly to the high SVOC removal. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.