In order to determine the toxicity of antibiotics and anaerobic digestion intermediates on anaerobic treatment of pharmaceutical wastewaters containing antibiotics, the single and joint toxicities of some antibiotics and intermediates to Photobacterium phosphoreum were tested by using the 15-min half inhibitory concentration (15 min-IC50) at pH = 7.00 +/- 0.05. The results showed that the 15 min-IC50 of ethanol, acetate, propionate and butyrate were 19.40, 20.71, 10.47 and 12.17 g x L(-1), respectively, which indicated that the toxicity descended in the order of propionate, butyrate, ethanol and acetate. The 15 min-IC50 of Amoxicillin, Kanamycin, Lincomycin and Ciprofloxacin were 3.99, 5.11, 4.32 and 5.63 g x L(-1), respectively, so the toxicity descended in the order of Amoxicillin, Lincomycin, Kanamycin and Ciprofloxacin. Using equal effect mixing method, the joint toxicity of four anaerobic digestion intermediates, the four intermediates together with Amoxicillin, Ciprofloxacin, Kanamycin, Lincomycin individually and all together were investigated, which demonstrated that the first three interactions were additive and the last three were synergistic. The observations have laid a foundation for control and optimization of anaerobic biotechnology for pharmaceutical wastewater containing antibiotics.