Somatic and male-specific (F+) coliphages are promising indicators of fecal contamination and human enteric viruses in water. There are various methods for the detection and assay of these coliphages, but they have not been adequately evaluated in comparative studies. We compared two methods for detection and assay of these phages in 108 samples of fecally contaminated surface waters: (1)direct plating of 100ml volumes by the single agar layer (SAL) method, and (2) initial concentration from approximate 1-liter volumes by adsorption to and elution from filters, followed by double agar layer (DAL) assay. We also compared two hosts for somatic coliphages, E. coli C and CN13, and three hosts for F+ coliphages , E. coli C3000 and Famp and Salmonella typhimurium WG49. Somatic and F+ coliphages were found in all 108 samples, but the former outnumbered the latter. The two methods (SAL and viral filtration-adsorption-elution followed by DAL) detected similar phage levels. Hosts E. coli C and CN13 detected similar coliphage levels, and F+ coliphage hosts E. coli C3000 and Famp and Salmonella typhimurium WG49 detected similar phage levels. However, when phage isolates from the three F+ hosts were characterized by cross plating on various phage hosts, there were differences in host specificity and sensitivity. Of the phage isolates on E. coli C3000 50% were somatic coliphages, and of those on S. typhimurium WG49, 10% were somatic Salmonella phages. None of the isolates on host E. coli Famp were somatic. The results of this study indicate that filtration-absorption-elution followed by DAL plaque assay is comparable to the SAL method for coliphage detection while having the comparative advantage of analyzing larger sample volumes. Hosts E. coli C and CN13 were comparable in somatic coliphage detection, but F+ coliphage host E. coli Famp was superior to hosts E. coli C3000 and S. typhimurium WG49 because it was more specific and sensitive while detecting comparable F+ coliphage levels.