The presence of several pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) in water bodies has garnered increasing attention and worldwide concern. The effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are one of the main sources of PhACs in aquatic environments. Advanced tertiary treatments are required to improve the quality of WWTP effluents discharged into sensitive receiving water bodies. This thesis has focused on biological activated carbon coupled with ultrafiltration (BAC-UF) and UV-C activated peroxydisulfate and peroxymonosulfate (UV/PDS and UV/PMS). The BAC-UF technology has been evaluated at pilot-scale during one year of operation, assessing the removal of 15 PhACs at environmentally relevant concentration. With respect to UV/PDS and UV/PMS technologies, they were preliminarily assessed with a set of lab-scale experiments and then, validated at pilot-scale simulating real operating conditions. Finally the comprehensive evaluation of these advanced treatment technologies identified some of the practical factors limiting the potential application of BAC-UF, UV/PDS and UV/PMS technologies.