A screening of 51 ligninolytic strains of fungi to examine their ability to decolorized phenolic industrial effluent was carried out. The selection showed that Lentinus edodes (UEC-2019) strain removed 73% of colour in 5 days, without any additional carbon sources. Under these conditions, L. edodes was more efficient than the known Phanerochaete chrysosporium (BKM-F-1767) strain (e.g. COD reductions were 60% and 26%, respectively).