A case study of the Yangzhuang River in Yangzhou City, China, was undertaken as an example of a typical, polluted urban river. Emphasis was placed on studying the effects of in-situ bioremediation technologies, such as aeration, eco-brick cover, biological packing cover, and low-sited plant beds on the subsequent release of pollutants from contaminated sediments in the river. Additionally, the amounts of ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and COD_Mn released from the sediments were measured, and their contributions to overlying water were individually quantified. The results showed that: 1) NH₃-N release rate of polluted sediment was reduced by 50.30%-89.64%, with an average of 59.27%, and NH₃-N input to the overlying water was reduced by 36.59%-82.67%, with an average of 53.33%; 2) TN release rate showed a decrease of 20.96%-88.94%, with an average of 42.32% and the changes in TN contributions to the overlying water indicated a removal efficiency of 38.00%-67.06%, with an average of 54.96%; 3) the release rate of TP from the sediment was decreased by 27.49%-91.00%, with an average of 55.31%, and TP released to the overlying water displayed a removal efficiency of 67.14%-98.46%,with an average of 84.33%; 4) a decrease of 11.84%-79.32% (41.16% on average) of the release rate of COD_Mn from the sediment and a decrease of -1.25% to70.74%, with an average of 29.83% of the input of COD_Mn to overlying water was indicated. We also found that the effects of in-situ biological technology, with respect to the control of pollutant release from sediment, were affected by the extent of sediment disturbance during their normal operation. For integrated applications, technologies responsible for strong sediment disturbance should be coupled with technologies leading to small sediment disturbance in order to minimize any explosive release of pollutants and thus achieve a superior overall treatment effect.