In the present work, the effect of solvent on the sub and supercritical extraction of the organic matter from Tarfaya's oil shales was studied. The experimental results revealed that the extraction yield obtained by the phenol is very high compared to that obtained by the toluene or without solvent. In addition, the solvent had a significant effect on the yield and the composition of the obtained oil. The analyses carried out on the recovered oils allowed us to establish that the phenol is a very efficient solvent for oil shale extraction, giving a better quality of the oils extracted containing a large proportion of maltenes and aromatics compounds and fewer amounts of sulphur and paraffin compounds. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.