Enrofloxacin (ENR) occurs widely in natural waters because of its extensive use as a veterinary chemotherapeutic agent. To improve our understanding of the interaction of this emerging contaminant with soils and sediments, sorption of ENR on homoionic smectites and kaolinite was studied as a function of pH, ionic strength, exchangeable cations, and humic acid concentration. Batch experiments and in situ ATR-FTIR analysis suggested multiple sorption mechanisms. Cation exchange was a major contributor to the sorption of cationic ENR species on smectite. The decreased ENR sorption with increasing ionic strength indicated the formation of outer-sphere complexes. Exchangeable cations significantly influenced the sorption capacity, and the observed order was Cs < Ca < K. The peak shifts of the -COO- stretch, coupled C-O stretch and O-H deformation, and the result of irreversible desorption FTIR spectra indicated that O-H of the carboxyl group was involved in the formation of inner-sphere surface complexes. The XRD analysis confirmed that interlayer intercalation is an important contributor to ENR sorption, while humic acid had a negligible contribution to the interlayer intercalation. The results of this study provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms of ENR sorption on clay minerals. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.