Drilling fluids are used for drilling natural gas, oil and water wells. These spill over into the surrounding soil at the point of drilling, which may impair soil health. A laboratory investigation was carried out to determine the effect of non-aqueous drilling fluid (NADF) and synthetic base oil used with it on soil health as indicated by the dehydrogenase activity. A non-sterile sandy loam soil was treated with different amounts of NADF and base oil at a rate of 800, 8,000 and 16,000 mg kg−1. Initially, reduction in dehydrogenase activity was observed, but it increased with the incubation time. On the 60th day of incubation dehydrogenase activity in untreated control was 1.04 mg TPF g−1 h−1 whereas in the soil samples treated with NADF and the base oil (16,000 mg kg−1), the activity was 1.53 mg TPF h−1 and 1.90 mg TPF h−1, respectively, which was 72 and 82% more than in untreated control. Base oil-treated soil showed more dehydrogenase activity than that observed with NADF. Both NADF and base oil stimulated the soil dehydrogenase activity.