The present study emphasizes on the decolorization of reactive dyes by the bacteria isolated from paper industry waste water. The isolate VBH1 was selected based on its maximum decolorization of 150mg/l of Reactive red 31and Reactive yellow 81. Based on phenotypic characterization and phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequence, the strain VBH1 belongs to the genus Streptococcus. The optimal conditions for the decolorization of dyes by the isolate VBH1 for 150 mg/l of dyes remained shaker with glucose as carbon supplement and tryptone as nitrogen supplement at pH 8.0 and temperature 35ºC. On physiochemical parameters optimization, 100% decolorization of Reactive red 31 and Reactive yellow 81 was achieved within 22h. Although the degraded product formed was non-toxic as compared to the parent dyes, scanning micrographs taken after dye decolorization revealed drastic changes on the bacterial cell morphology.