Two Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped bacterial strains, cai42^T and b45, were isolated from oil-production water taken from Xinjiang Oilfield, China. Optimum growth was observed at 30 °C, at pH 8 and with 1–3 % (w/v) NaCl. According to phylogenetic analyses, the two strains were members of the genus Defluviimonas , with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 95.5−96.3 % with the type strains of species of the genus. The major cellular fatty acids of strains cai42^T and b45 were C_{10 : 0} 3-OH, C_{16 : 0} and summed feature 8 (C_{18 : 1}ω7c/C_{18 : 1}ω6c), and the predominant ubiquinone was Q-10, all of these data being typical for the genus Defluviimonas . The polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, glycolipid, phosphatidylcholine, two unidentified aminolipids, an unidentified phospholipid and two unidentified lipids. The mean genomic DNA G+C contents of strains cai42^T and b45 were 60.8±1.1 and 60.4±1.0 mol%, respectively. On the basis of phylogenetic, physiological and chemotaxonomic analyses, strains cai42^T and b45 represent a novel species of the genus Defluviimonas , for which the name Defluviimonas alba sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is cai42^T ( = CGMCC 1.12518^T = LMG 27406^T).