In the present study, the removal of phenol from synthetic wastewater was evaluated in a fixed bed reactor with up flow sludge blanket filtration (FUSBF) in comparison with a typical USBF system. At hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 hours and solid retention time (SRT) of 20 day, the effect of initial concentration of phenol (260-1020 mg/L) on phenol and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency (%) was investigated in both systems. The effect of the presence of fixed bed was determined throughout the operational period. The results showed that the FUSBF system had a better ability than the typical USBF system in terms of phenol and COD removal. The average phenol and COD removal at phenol concentration of 312 mg/L was 97.52% and 92.82% for the FUSBF system and 92.80% and 82.18% for the typical USBF system, respectively. At HRT of 24 h and organic loading rate (OLR) of 30 g/m(-3).h(-1), the amount of phenol removal was 82.1%. At OLR of 30 g/m(-3).h(-1), role of fixed bed in phenol and COD removal was 25.01% and 29.3%, respectively, overall, the FUSBF system has a higher efficiency and ability than that of typical USBF and can be used for the purification of industrial wastewater containing refractory organic compounds such as phenol.