In order to determine the chemical states of radioactive cesium (Cs-137 or Cs-134) sorbed in clay minerals, chemical states of cesium as well as the other alkali metals (sodium and rubidium) sorbed in micaceous oxides have been investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Since the number of atoms in radioactive cesium is extremely small, we specially focused on chemical states of trace-level alkali metals. For this purpose, we have measured XPS under X-ray total reflection (TR) condition. For cesium, it was shown that ultra-trace amount of cesium down to about 100 pg cm(-7) can be detected by TR-XPS. This amount corresponds to about 200 Bq of (CS)-C-137 (t(1/2) =30.2 y). It was demonstrated that ultra-trace amount of cesium corresponding to radioactive cesium level can be measured by TR-XPS. As to the chemical states, it was found that core-level binding energy in TR-XPS for trace-level cesium shifted to lower energy side compared with that for thicker layer. A reverse tendency is observed in sodium. Based on charge transfer within a simple point-charge model, it is concluded that chemical bond between alkali metal and micaceous oxide for ultra-thin layer is more polarized that for thick layer. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.