Chloramphenicol (CP) is frequently detected in wastewaters even after treatment. In this study, the interactions between CP and selected Earth materials modified by an ionic liquid (IL) were investigated. Changes in surface hydrophobicity of the materials after modification were demonstrated in contact angle measurements and zeta potential determination. The sorption sites of IL on zeolite and illite were limited to the external surfaces, while interlayer sorption sites of IL in montmorillonite (MMT) played a major role in addition to surface sorption. The different sites for IL modification resulted in different sites for CP sorption. CP uptake was limited to the external sites for IL-modified zeolite and illite, while both external and interlayer sites were available for CP uptake on modified MMT. The dual sorption sites for CP by modified MMT resulted in a much larger CP distribution coefficient (K-d). The adsorption of CP on the modified materials followed a linear sorption isotherm and the K-d increased as the IL loading on the Earth materials increased. In addition, good correlation was found between the fractional organic carbon content (f(oc)) of the modified materials and the K-d values. These results all pointed to a partitioning mechanism for the uptake of CP on IL-modified Earth materials. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.