This study aimed to evaluate the adsorption of toluene in two forms of sodium smectite national clays called Fluidgel and produced in northeastern Brazil: commercial and chemically modified with quaternary ammonium salt (hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide) by the process of organophilization. The commercial Fluidgel and organoclay were characterized by a physical-chemical study evaluating their adsorptive properties and quality from the process of organophilization on the morphology and chemical composition, in relation to their affinity for volatile organic compounds in processes such as BTX adsorption. Toluene adsorption onto clays, commercial and organoclay, with particle diameter of 0.55 mm was carried out in batch system at room temperature with constant stirring. The adsorption study was conducted at initial toluene concentration of 100 ppm, 10 g of clay per liter of effluent and at initial pH of about 6. For kinetic data fitting, pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models were applied. The results obtained with the characterization analyses showed the efficiency of organophilization process. The adsorption kinetics process showed that the kinetic model of pseudosecond- order was the best fit to experimental data. The adsorption study presented a percentage removal of toluene from about 96 % to equilibrium time of 180 min. Copyright © 2013, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.32 313318Bertagnolli, C., Araujo, A.L.P., Kleinübing, S.J., Silva, M.G.C., Evaluation of Brazilian organoclay synthesized in the laboratory and commercial (2011) Chemical Engineering Transaction, 24, pp. 1537-1542Ho, Y.S., McKay, G., Pseudo-second order model for sorption processes (1999) Process Biochemistry, 34, pp. 451-465Lagergren, S., About the theory of so-called adsorption of soluble substances (1898) Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens, 24, pp. 1-39. , HandlingarMoura, C.P., Vidal, C.B., Barros, A.L., Costa, L.S., Vasconcellos, L.C.G., Dias, F.S., Nascimento, R.F., Adsorption of BTX (Benzene, Toluene, o-Xylene, and p-Xylene) from aqueous solutions by modified periodic mesoporous organosilica (2011) Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 363, pp. 626-634Nourmoradi, H., Nikaeen, M., Hajian, M.K., Removal of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) from aqueous solutions by montmorillonite modified with nonionic surfactant: Equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic study (2012) Chemical Engineering Journal, 191, pp. 341-348Paiva, L.B., Morales, A.R., Díaz, F.R.V., Organoclays: Properties, preparation and applications (2008) Applied Clay Sci., 42, pp. 8-24Souza, R.S., Didi, H.S., Silva, M.G.C., Removal of benzene from aqueous solution using raw red mud (2011) Chemical Engineering Transactions, 24, pp. 1225-1230Vidal, C.B., Raulino, G.S.C., Barros, A.L., Lima, A.C.A., Ribeiro, J.P., Pires, M.J.R., Nascimento, R.F., BTEX removal from aqueous solution by HDTMA-modified Y zeolite (2012) Journal of Environmental Management, 112, pp. 178-185Weber, W.J., Morris, J.C., Advances in water pollution research: Removal of biologically resistant pollutants from waste waters by adsorption (1962) Proceedings of International Conference on Water Pollution Symposium, 2, pp. 231-266. , Pergamon Press, OxfordZhou, Q., He, H.P., Zhu, J.X., Shen, W., Frost, R.L., Yuan, P., Mechanism of p-nitrophenol adsorption from aqueous solution by HDTMA + pillared montmorillonite - implications of water purifications (2008) Journal of Hazardous Materials, 154, pp. 1025-1032