This study evaluates the degradation efficiency of enrofloxacin (ENR) by catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) and ozonation. Results obtained by CWAO experiments show that 99.5% degradation, 37.0% chemical oxidation demand (COD) removal and 51.0% total organic carbon (TOC) conversion were obtained when 100 mol% FeCl(3) and 25 mol% NaNO(2) at 150 °C under 0.5 MPa oxygen pressure after 120 min are used. The degradation products are identified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and ion chromatography (IC). The oxidation end products, F(-), NO(3)(-) and NH(4)(+) were determined by IC. The BOD(5)/COD ratio as a measure of the biodegradability of the parent compound increased from 0.01 to 0.12 after 120 min of reaction time, indicating an improved biodegradability of the parent compound. The inhibition of bioluminescence of the marine bacteria V. fischeri decreased from 43% to 12% demonstrating a loss in toxicity of ENR during CWAO. Ozonation of 0.2 mM ENR was carried out with an ozone concentration of 7.3 g m(-3) at pH 7. ENR decomposition with a degradation rate of 87% was obtained corresponding to the reaction time. Moderate changes in COD (18%) and TOC (17%) removal has been observed. The bioluminescence inhibition increased from 8% to 50%, due to the generation of toxic degradation products during ozonation. In comparison to the widely use of well developed method of ozonation CWAO exhibits better performance in terms of COD, TOC removals and generates less toxic products.