Corrosion inhibition effect of rhodanine-N-acetic acid (R-NA) on mild steel (MS) corrosion in 0.1 M HCl solution was investigated. For this purpose, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), linear polarization resistance (LPR) as well as hydrogen gas evolution (V-H2 - t) and the change of open circuit potential as a function of immersion time (E-ocp - t) were used. The MS surfaces exposed to 0.1 M HCl solution in the absence and presence of inhibitor were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermodynamic parameters of adsorption were calculated and discussed. In order to gain more information about the adsorption mechanism, the EIS technique was used to evaluate the potential of zero charge (PZC) and a mechanism of adsorption process was proposed. It was found that, R-NA is a good corrosion inhibitor for the MS corrosion in 0.1 M HCl solution. The inhibition efficiency increased with increasing inhibitor concentration and reached 98% at 1.0 x 10(-2)M R-NA. The high inhibition efficiency was related to adsorption of R-NA on steel surface. Surface SEM images showed a ;good surface coverage of inhibitor on the metal surface. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.