A proper soil risk assessment needs to estimate the processes that affect the fate and the behaviour of a contaminant, which are in fl uenced by soil biotic and abiotic components. For this reason, the mea- surement of biomarkers in soil bioindicator organisms, such as earthworms, has recently received increasing attention. In this study, the earthworm Eisenia andrei was used to assess the pollutant-induced stress syndrome after exposure to sublethal concentrations of Cd (10 or 100 m gg  1 ) in OECD soil, after 14 d of exposure. Cadmium bioaccumulation and potential biomarkers such as catalase (CAT), hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), malondialdehyde (MDA), phenoloxidase (PO), metal- lothioneins (MTs) and genotoxic damage were determined. Results suggested that the exposure to 10 and 100 m gg  1 Cd signi fi cantly increased Cd bioaccumulation, MTs and MDA; 100 m gg  1 Cd contamination evidenced signi fi cantly higher values of H 2 O 2 content and PO activity; CAT activity was inhibited at the higher concentration while GST and Comet assay did not show any signi fi cant differences from the control. Rank-based biomarker index showed that both different contaminated soils had an effect on the earthworms and allowed to validate the ecotoxicological relevance of this battery of biomarkers for a promising integrated multi-marker approach in soil monitoring and assessment.