The effect of temperature on the physical properties of some ionic liquids was investigated. Density, refractive index, surface tension, dynamic and kinematic viscosities of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium based ionic liquids with thiocyanate and tetrafluoroborate, and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium with tetrafluoroborate and hexafluorophosphate anions were measured at various temperatures (density from T = (278.15 to 363.15) K, refractive index from (293.15 to 343.15) K, surface tension from (283.15 to 333.15) K, dynamic viscosity from (283.15 to 368.15) K, and kinematic viscosity from (298.15 to 363.15) K). The volumetric properties for the ionic liquids were also calculated from the experimental values of the density at T = 298.15 K. The Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equation was applied to correlate experimental values of dynamic and kinematic viscosities as a function of temperature. As well, the relation between density and refractive index was correlated satisfactorily with several empirical equations such as Lorentz-Lorenz, Dale-Gladstone, Eykman, Oster, Arago-Biot, Newton and Modified-Eykman. Finally, the relation between surface tension and viscosity was investigated and the parachor method was used to predict density, refractive index and surface tension of the ionic liquids. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.