The paper presents an experimental study on the extraction of vanillin from aqueous solutions through a flat-sheet supported liquid membrane (FSSLM) system. Thereby, the best organic solvent and the operating conditions that would yield optimum performance of the developed SLM system have been identified. Tributyl phosphate (TBP) is used as carrier. Among various solvents, tested for the above purpose, kerosene is found to be the best. The effects of operating conditions, viz. TBP concentration, pH of feed and receiving solutions, initial vanillin concentration, feed dose and stability of the membrane are investigated. Under optimum conditions, an initial flux value around 4 x 10(-6) mol m(-2) s(-1) has been determined and more than 60% of the initial vanillin concentration can be extracted. The main feature is that the elaborated FSSLM system retained its stability and initial performance during the experiment that lasted for 13 days. After 24 h of extraction, 84.5% and 64.5% of initial vanillin concentration can be removed from vanilla sugar and vanilla liquor real samples, respectively. The present study shows that the developed SLM system can be auspiciously applied to extract vanillin from aqueous solutions. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.