Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are hard to degrade, are the main pollutants in the environment. Degradation of PAHs in the environment is becoming more necessary and urgent. In the current study, strain PL1 with degradation capability of pyrene (PYR) and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) was isolated from soil and identified as Klebsiella pneumoniae by morphological and physiological characteristics as well as 16S rDNA sequence. With the presence of 20 mg L⁻¹ PYR and 10 mg L⁻¹ BaP in solution, the strain PL1 could degrade 63.4 % of PYR and 55.8 % of BaP in 10 days, respectively. The order of biodegradation of strain PL1 was pH 7.0 > pH 8.0 > pH 10.0 > pH 6.0 > pH 5.0. Strain PL1 degradation ability varied in different soil. The half-life of PYR in soil was respectively 16.9, 24.9, and 88.9 days in paddy soil, red soil, and fluvo-aquic soil by PL1 degradation; however, the half-lives of BaP were respectively 9.5, 9.5, and 34.0 days in paddy soil, red soil, and fluvo-aquic soil by PL1 degradation. The results demonstrate that the degradation capability on PYR and BaP by PL1 in paddy soil was relatively good, and K. pneumoniae PL1 was the new degradation bacterium of PYR and BaP. K. pneumoniae PL1 has potential application in PAH bioremediation.