Equilibrium adsorption experiments of phenol, 3-chlorophenol, 4-chlorophenol, and 3-nitrophenol aqueous solutions on NF90 membrane were conducted to obtain the corresponding adsorption isotherms at 25 degrees C. Single-compound solutions with concentration ranging from 0.1 to 8 mmol L-1 were used. Freundlich and Langmuir models were compared to the experimental isotherms and their characteristic parameters were obtained from linear fits. in addition, the adsorptive behaviour of twelve aqueous phenolic compounds on the NF90 membrane was studied in order to investigate the relationship between adsorption and retention of selected solutes. An inverse correlation between the adsorbed amount, at the same equilibrium concentration (1 mmol L-1), and retention was found. The influence of the molecular hydrophobicity and dipole moment of phenolic compounds on membrane adsorption, solute retention and water flux decline was also investigated. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.