The corrosion behavior of brass in the presence of two organic inhibitors that belong to the benzotriazole derivatives namely N-[1-(benzotriazol-1-yl)methyl] aniline (BTMA) and 1-hydroxy methyl benzotriazole (HBTA) has been investigated in neutral aqueous NaCl solution. Weight-loss measurements, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were applied to analyze the effect of the organic compounds on the corrosion inhibition of brass. Polarization studies showed that these inhibitors were found to act as mixed type for brass in chloride solution. It suppresses the cathodic and anodic reactions rates and it renders the open circuit potential to more noble directions. Solution analysis was used to calculate the dezincification factor. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to characterize the surface film. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.