Description: Publication date: August 2018 Source: Data in Brief, Volume 19 Author(s): Gylaine Vanissa Tchuisseu Tchakounté, Beatrice Berger, Sascha Patz, Henri Fankem, Silke Ruppel Bacteria, which establish positive interactions with plant roots, play a key role in agricultural environments and are promising for their potential use in sustainable agriculture. Many of these mutualistic bacteria provide benefits to plant hosts by facilitating soil mineral nutrient uptake, protecting plants from biotic and abiotic stresses and producing substances that promote growth. The dataset presented here, is related to the publication entitled “Community structure and plant growth-promoting potential of cultivable bacteria isolated from Cameroon soil” (Tchuisseu et al., 2018) [1] . The data provide an extended analysis of the occurrence, taxonomical affiliation and functional traits of bacterial groups isolated from the rhizosphere of maize in Cameroon at different taxonomical levels, using a combination of molecular/bioinformatics tools and in vitro studies. Bacteria were isolated from maize rhizosphere soil. Isolated bacteria were identified using the 16s rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analyses. All strains were characterized for their potential of salinity tolerance and growth promotion (phosphate solubilization, nifH gene presence and siderophore production) in order to select efficient bacterial strains for designing biological fertilizer exploitable for agriculture under specific stress conditions of the country. The data will be valuable for further studies on plant associated bacteria in Cameroon, which are still largely unexplored.