Toxic compounds which  belong to PAHs are  generated  during  all  types  of combustion of fuels and  other  substances  as  well  as  a result  of natural processes  (mineralisation).  Products which  appear  during  the  above processes eventually reach  soil,  where  they  accumulate. The objective  of this  study  has been to evaluate  the  effect  of anthracene   and  pyrene accumulated   in  soil  on yield,   concentration   of macronutrients  (N,  P, K, Mg, Ca, Na)  and their  uptake by  cv.  Vilmorin butter  lettuce  (Lactuca   sativa  L.)   grown  under  the  minimum and  3-fold enriched  abundance  of substrate. A  pot  experiment   in  four replicates   was carried out twice  in a greenhouse  at  the  University of Warmia and Mazury  in  Olsztyn, in the spring  of 2007  and  2008.  Supplementary fertilisation was  applied  before planting   butter lettuce.  At  the first  rate  of fertilisation, nitorgen  was  introduced  in  a full  dose before planting lettuce,  but  at the triple rate  of nutrients in  substrate, it  was  divided  into  2/3 of the dose before planting  and the  remaining  1/3 applied  to soil  10 days  after  planting.  Soil  con- tamination with  anthracene (ANT)  and pyrene  (PYR) or their  mixture started  10 days  after planting  lettuce.  Soil application of the  two  PAHs was  performed  5 times  at  five-day  intervals   until   the  end  of the  growing season  of lettuce. Determination  of macronutrients (N, P,  K,  Mg, Ca,  Na)  was  accomplished with standard  methods  after  mineralisation  (H2SO4+H2O2)  of the  plant  material dried at 60oC. The  determinations were  peformed in  comparison to certified  material (CTA-VTL-2). Increasing the  abundance  of substrate  in  nutrients (N,  P, K, Mg, Na,  Cl)  by three-fold led  to a 13.7% increase in  yield  of lettuce  heads.  The PAH compounds present  in  the  substrate  depressed lettuce  yield.   This   tendency was  more  evident  when  anthracene   rather than pyrene contaminated  soil. ANT   and  PYR depressed  the  concentration  of nitrogen  but raised the concentration  of calcium  in substrate  less  abundant  in  nutrients.