Twenty out of 200 isolates of cyanobacteria mainly from saline soils of Songnen Plain of China were successfully grown on BG11 N-free medium. The nitrogen-fixing activity was then demonstrated for the 20 isolates in modified BG11 medium using the acetylene reduction assay. All of them possessed appreciable nitrogenase activity (acetylene reduction) under non-saline conditions; however, at 5% NaCl only 60% of the isolates exhibited a high rate of this activity and 25% were completely negative under these conditions. The cyanobacteria isolates grew well in BG11 medium; nevertheless, growth of the majority of isolates was reduced by about 25-85% in the same medium containing 5% NaCl. Cellulolytic activity was detected in 50% of the 20 strains, amylolytic in 45%, and pectinolytic in 10% of the isolates. The cyanobacteria isolates showed also enzymatic activity under saline conditions (6%). The preliminary identification indicated that seven isolates were Nostoc, two were Microcystis, four were Oscillatoria, six were Anabaena, and one isolate was Synechococcus.