Direct degradation of macromolecules by photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) is important for the industrial application of PSB wastewater treatment. Light and oxygen are the most important parameters in PSB growth. This paper studied the PSB macromolecule degradation process under three different light and oxygen conditions: light-anaerobic, natural light-microaerobic and dark-aerobic. The results showed that under three different light-oxygen conditions. PSB degradation of macromolecules was higher than 90%; the removal ratios of COD, TN, TP, total sugar and protein were also high; and the biomass yield reached nearly 0.5 mg-biomass/mg-COD-removal. Light and oxygen significantly influenced the efficiency. Macromolecules and pollutants removals were higher under oxygen condition than those under light-anaerobic condition. Theoretical analysis showed that under aerobic condition, PSB carried out oxidative phosphorylation, in which pollutants were sufficiently utilized with high mineralization degree. Under light-anaerobic condition, PSB carried out photophosphorylation and fermentation, which led to low pollutants removal efficiency. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.