A high concentration of HMs was detected in the different maize organs; chelants improved the accumulation capacity of the maize plants. The rhizosphere bacterial community isolated from control plants showed the largest biodiversity in terms of bacterial genera. However, the addition of HMs reduced the number of taxa to three: Bacillus, Lysinibacillus and Pseudomonas. The effects of HM treatment were counteracted by the addition of chelants in terms of the genetic biodiversity. Furthermore, several bacterial strains particularly resistant to HMs and chelants were isolated and selected. Our study suggests that the combined use of resistant bacteria and chelants could improve the phytoremediation capacity of maize.