Nowadays, the water resource contamination by the nitrates causes a real problem concerning the production of a drinking water with required quality. This study is focused on the possibility of the nitrates elimination by nanofiltration. Four nanofiltration membranes (NF, NF 90, OPMN-P and OPMN-K) with different properties have been tested in order to determine the more adapted to this problematic. In this aim, experiments have been carried out with a nitrate salt (NaNO3) solution at different concentrations and different transmembrane pressures, and with a model solution which the composition (ions and concentrations) is the same that a drinking water in order to determine the nitrates retention in these conditions. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.