Inhibition on formation and release of potentially mobile phosphorus in sediments by various pretreatments (aerating to sediments, aerating to water) were studied, using sediments from the campus canal as materials. The results show that the improvement on phosphorus migration from overlying water to sediments by aerating to sediments was better than that by aerating to water. With different pretreatments, release of phosphorus was decreased obviously. After aerating to sediments and aerating to water, release of soluble reactive phosphate was reduced by 193.6 mg x kg(-1), 44.7 mg x kg(-1) and release of total phosphorus was reduced by 334.0 mg x kg(-1), 163.8 mg x kg(-1) respectively compared with that of the sediments without pretreatments. As for potentially mobile phosphorus in sediments, the former was reduced by 58.6 mg x kg(-1), while the later was increased by 167.4 mg x kg(-1). The possible reason of it could be that phosphorus was transformed into potentially mobile phosphorus at the first step in migration from overlying water to sediments, while the pretreatments would enhance the transformation from potentially mobile phosphorus to refractory forms in sediments. The enhancement to this transformation by aerating to sediments was more evident than that by aerating to water.