A wide variety of organic pollutants from industrial and human activities are discharged daily into surface water sources. Both in low and high concentrations they may pose negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Among the multitude of organic pollutants released, the emerging and persistent organic pollutants are among the most harmful for the environment and human health. In this framework, the scope of our work was to provide an up-to-date scientific literature review on: (i) the selection of the microorganisms able to remove the organic pollutants, (ii) the mechanisms by which these pollutants are removed, (iii) the efficiency of the removal process. The microorganisms can use the organic pollutants as a source of carbon and energy for their growth and metabolism, thus facilitating the conversion and/or mineralization of organic pollutants into less toxic substances. The secretion of oxidoreductases, laccases, hydrolases, peroxidases, phosphatase, esterase, oxygenase, dehalogenases, transferases and other enzymes by microorganisms can enhance the rate of degradation reactions by lowering the activation energy of the molecules. For example, by secretion of biphenyl dioxygenase (BphA), dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (BphB), 2,3dihydroxybiphenyl dioxygenase (BphC) and 2-hydroxyl-6-oxo-6-phenylhexa-2,4-dienoic acid hydrolase (BphD) the microorganisms such as Pseudomonas sp., Shigella sp., Subtercola sp., Chitinophaga sp., Janthinobacterium sp., Trametes versicolor, Phanerochaete chrysosporium or Lentinus edodes are able to transform the PCBs into chlorobenzoates and 2-hydroxypenta-2,4dienoate which are less toxic, and they do it with an efficiency higher than 30% for concentrations above 600 mg/L. Bacillus cereus, Enterobacter ludwigii and Enterobacter sp. were reported to be able to degrade the amoxicillin and sulfamide antibiotics. Aspergillus niger, Pseudomonas sp., Labrys portucalensis, Rhodococcus rhodochrous had the potential to degrade carbamazepine. Azospirillium barasilense, Azotobacter chroococcum, Klebsilense pneumoneae, Pseudomonas cepacian were able to degrade dicofol - an organochlorine pesticide. It can be concluded that the efficiency of the removal of the organic pollutants by microorganisms depends on the organic compound type, its concentration in the aqueous solutions, the microorganism species. Different studies showed that microorganisms had a specific selectivity in the biodegradation of emerging and persistent organic pollutants.