Phenol is a toxic pollutant that is produced naturally as well as synthetically in the environment. Several studies were conducted worldwide to isolate microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi that are capable of degrading phenols. In this study, bacterial species from soil samples were screened and isolated for their phenol degradation ability. Selected colonies were screened for phenol tolerance at various phenol concentrations ranging from 10 to 140 mM/ml phenol concentrations. Eight isolates were found to be potent phenol-tolerators and were identified as Bacillus species. Of these, three Bacillus cereus strains named RM4, RM23 and RC29 showed maximum degradation to high concentrations of phenol. The strain RM23 could degrade 65.11% of phenol content in the MSPM medium containing 10 mM/ml phenol. RM4 showed a potential degradation of 33.33% in 40mM/ml concentration. It also exhibited degradation at 120 mM/ml concentration. Maximum degradation showed by RC29 was 38 % at 60 mM/ml. The optimum pH, temperature and incubation period for maximum phenol-degradation was found to be pH 7, temperature 370C, and three days of incubation.