Ammonia is regularly cited as one of the major causes of anaerobic digester failure. To counteract its adverse effects towards anaerobic digestion (AD) microorganisms, innovative operational strategies based on active materials addition into anaerobic digesters are currently evaluated. They aimed at both promoting microbial growth by offering an immobilization matrix for the biomass, but also at controlling ammonia concentration by selective adsorption or ionic exchange. In this framework, anaerobic batch digesters fed with biowaste were supplemented separately with various active materials (e.g. zeolites, activated charcoals, chitosan) in presence of 23.0 g/L N-NH4. This concentration caused half-inhibition of non-supplemented digesters' specific methanogenic activity. The influence of these materials on the composition of microbial community was determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Correlations between identified key phylotypes and AD performance were then statistically evaluated with Principal Component Analysis. Specific colonization of the active materials was observed with Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization. Furthermore, metatranscriptomics and metabolomics analyses were conducted to investigate microbiome's functions and provided insights into ammonia resistance patterns. Ammonia concentration was not influenced by active materials. However, in presence of one type of activated charcoal (AC1) as well as both zeolites (e.g. Chabazite and Clinoptilolite) biogas production kinetics were speeded up. Enhanced AD performance was associated with the persistence of Methanosarcina. Within bacterial community, both zeolites induced the emergence of family Marinilabiaceae members whereas genus Caldicoprobacter became predominant within Clostridiales members in presence of AC1.