The surfactants cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were used in a study of an adsorptive bubble flotation process in batch mode to remove tert-butylphenol (TBP) from water. The TBP removal is maximized when the surfactant concentration is around the critical micelle concentration (CMC). Since micelles form above the CMC, this indicate that the higher the surfactant monomer concentration, the better the removal, but the micelles compete with the air/water interface for the TBP, resulting in micelles reducing removal efficiency. The addition of NaCl to the feed solution results in a significant reduction of the ability of CPC to remove TBP, while it improves the ability of SDS to remove TBP.