The treatment of 20% natural solar salt brines with clove oil at 0.02 and 0.5% (v/v) concentrations, resulted in the complete elimination of Halomonas spp. and red halophilic bacteria after 30 s and 1 min exposure, respectively. However, slime producing halophilic bacteria survived at very low cell density (0.46 log cycles) even after 10 min of exposure.