It was found earlier in our laboratories that Ag ion-exchanged zeolite was capable of purifying 1-butene by selective adsorbing trace amounts of 1,3-butadiene. The effect of Ag content in Ag ion-exchanged Y-zeolite (Ag-Y) on 1,3-butadiene/1-butene adsorption was investigated using Ag-Y with different Si/Al ratios and different degrees of Ag+/Na+ exchange (AgNa-Y). AgNa-Y with a Ag content of 34 Ag/u.c. exhibited excellent adsorption performance in terms of both separation factor and uptake rate. The influence of H2S exposure on sorbent performance was also examined. Although both 1,3-butadiene and 1-butene adsorption amounts were decreased by H2S exposure, the separation factors remained,well over 100, which were still good for purification. XPS analysis revealed that Ag+ in Ag-Y reacted with H2S to form Ag2S. The high selectivity for butadiene over 1-butene was indicative of the pi -complexation ability of Ag2S. This work demonstrated that (1) an intermediate silver loading was the best for 1,3-butadiene/1-butene purification and that (2) Ag-Y maintained stability against H2S.