The aim of this study was to clarify the potential of soil enzyme activities as indicators of pesticide contamination, and to compare this to using the functional diversity of bacterial communities via Biolog (R) Ecoplates. The individual effects of the pure active ingredients (i.e. not the commercial formulations) of ten pesticides on various soil enzyme activities were recorded under laboratory conditions at different incubation times (i.e. 0, 2, 6 and 12 months). Results clearly showed that response patterns of soil enzyme activities differed in their sensitivities to pesticide addition over time (i.e. stimulation, inhibition or no effect). Results suggested that phenol oxidase activity could be used as an early indicator of pesticide contamination, and arylamidase and beta-glucosidase could be used to evaluate soil resilience after pesticide disturbances. We concluded that the functional diversity of bacterial communities was less efficient than soil enzyme activities as an indicator of pesticide contamination. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.