The negative effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on humans' health and the environment have boosted the enforcement of regulations, resulting in the need of effective and environmentally friendly off-gas treatment technologies. In this work, the synergism between microalgae and bacteria was investigated as a sustainable platform to enhance the biological degradation of toluene, herein selected as a model VOC. An innovative algal-bacterial tubular photobioreactor (TPBR) was systematically compared with a conventional biotrickling filter (BTF). The BTF supported average removal efficiencies close to those obtained in the TPBR (86 +/- 9% and 88 +/- 4%, respectively) at the highest inlet load (similar to 23 g m(3) h(-1)) and lowest gas residence time (0.75 min). However, the BTF was more sensitive towards the accumulation of secondary metabolites. In this regard, photosynthetic O-2 supplementation (resulting in dissolved oxygen concentrations of similar to 7.3 mg O-2 L-1) and CO2 consumption by microalgae (which reduced the impact of acidification) enhanced toluene abatement performance and process stability.