Bioaugmentation is a bioremediation technique that boosts the natural ability of contaminated soil or water to clean itself by adding specialized microorganisms (bacteria, fungi) that can break down specific pollutants like hydrocarbons, pesticides, or chlorinated solvents, making it an eco-friendly way to speed up contaminant removal. It involves introducing either native microbes (enhanced) or non-native strains (exogenous) with superior degrading abilities, often used in wastewater treatment and polluted site cleanups to reduce treatment times and costs.