Microbial interactions in the plant rhizosphere play important roles in the overall development of legumes. Legumes are able to establish beneficial symbiotic relationships with two types of soil-borne microorganisms: N2-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi (mainly arbuscular mycorrhizal or AM) which result can result in enhanced legume nutrition and health. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) generally include all root-associated bacteria that enhance plant growth. Among PGPR, plant associated N2-fixing bacteria are considered as an alternative to inorganic N fertilizer for promoting plant growth and yield. Phosphate solubilising bacteria (PSB) are also included in PGPR group and possess the ability to solubilise insoluble inorganic P compounds. To benefit from these beneficial rhizosphere interactions in the field, farmers have to apply commercial microbial inoculants containing several kinds of bacterial and/or fungi, often along with expensive chemical fertilizers. This paper aims to review of the results obtained in the field with such microbial commercial inoculants and to highlight the effects of microbial quality of the commercial products, the role of the plant variety on the efficiency of the microbial inoculation and the formulation of the microbial inoculants (including AM on the likelihood of success of those inoculations in field conditions. (Texte intégral)