The work deals with more efficient procedures for the isolation and cultivation of “nonculturable” microorganisms (NM) from environmental sources. The techniques for NM cultivation in situ and under laboratory conditions are discussed. A new approach is considered, viz., cultivation under cyclically varying conditions with the cycle duration comparable to the duration of the cell cycle. Cyclic cultivation implies sequential changes of several cultivation phases with different growth conditions. An established sequence of growth phases provides for the competitiveness of the target microorganisms and for accumulation of their biomass. Cultivation of phosphate-accumulating bacteria, nonculturable microorganisms which have not been previously isolated in pure culture, in an SBR reactor is discussed as an example of cyclic cultures.