The main aim of this work was to investigate the behaviour of industrial wastewater activated sludges exposed to sudden contamination by copper ions, phenol, surfactant and amoxicillin, in various concentrations, in order to attempt to obtain a better understanding of the respiration changes of the sludge. Four sets of assays were carried out with samples of sludge from: pharmaceutical industry; two types of food industries; an, a synthetic effluent fed with microorganisms. The contact period between the wastewater and microorganisms was about 15 minutes and the respiration time was 5 minutes. The experiments were conducted and operated continuously in order to simulate real conditions found in industry. All the samples were taken for respiration rate measuring. The values obtained from the assays were used to study the microorganisms behavior by comparing intoxicating compounds and all types of activated sludge tested. The sludge from the pharmaceutical industry has higher adaptability to sudden contact with toxic compounds, as the microorganisms in this type of sludge have normally acquired resistance to many toxic compounds that are commonly present in this type of effluent. However, the activated sludge from food industry, that has high concentrations of oil and grease, presented a similar respiration behavior in comparison to pharmaceutical industry sludge, leading to the conclusion that the oil and grease promote cell blockage, preventing contact between food and microorganisms, and causing respiration interferences. The respirometric method was significantly tested and the result is that this technique promotes efficient determination of activated sludge even under adapted activated sludge to toxic compounds, by which measure become slightly rugged.