The aims of this study were to make use of organo-clays (i.e., Cloisite-10A, Cloisite-15A, Cloisite-30B and Cloisite-93A), to remove p-nitrophenol, phenol and aniline of organic pollutants. The organo-clays were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Sorption isotherm, kinetic and pH effect of p-nitrophenol, phenol and aniline sorbed by four organo-clays were evaluated. The d-spacings (0 0 1) of the XRD peak of Cloisite-10A, Cloisite-15A, Cloisite-30B and Cloisite-93A are 1.98, 2.76, 1.93 and 2.64 nm, respectively. The d(0 0 1)-spacings of XRD indicated that these p-nitropheno, phenol and aniline could penetrate into the interlayer of clays and expand the d(0 0 1)-spacings. The linear sorption isotherm of constant partition was employed to describe the sorption isotherms of phenols sorbed by organo-clays through hydrophobic-hydrophobic chemical reactions. The parabolic diffusion and power-function of kinetic models were employed to describe properly the kinetic experiments. The rate limiting step of the p-nitrophenol sorption reactions on organo-clays were diffusion-controlled processes (i.e., 15A, 30B, 93A) and chemicalcontrolled process for 10A organo-clays. The pre-exponential factor of the p-nitrophenol sorbed by four organo-clays showed the trend as follows: 10A > 30B > 93A > 15A. The efficiency of these organo-clays in removing phenol compounds in water treatments merit further study. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.