Refinery wastewater is not only large in volume but also complex in composition. It requires multi-stage treatment to achieve discharge or reuse targets. Pretreatment plays an important role as a front-end treatment. In conventional pretreatment technologies, petroleum removal and suspension removal are carried out through inclined plate settlement combined with two-stage air flotation. This poses problems such as high energy and chemical consumption and large outputs of hazardous waste. In this study, a short-process physical pretreatment technology is designed in conjunction with combined fiber coalescer (CFC) and granular media filter (GMF). The results of the pilot test show that with no added chemicals, the treated refinery wastewater is clear and translucent, and the petroleum and suspended solids content could be reduced to less than 20 mg/L, which falls within the acceptable range of the biochemical influent index. This process could greatly reduce the generation and emission of scum and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and provides a new technique for the low-carbon pretreatment of refinery wastewater. •Refinery wastewater could be treated by media coalescence.•Media coalescence could replace inclined plate and two-stage air flotation.•The treatment effect of media coalescence is more stable.•Media coalescence is more efficient, economical and environmentally friendly.