Soils, subsoils, and aquifer materials can be modified with hydrophobic cationic surfactants to increase their sorption capabilities for organic contaminants. The objective of this study was to examine in detail the sorptive characteristics of the natural loess soil and the resultant organo-modified soils for aqueous-phase neutral organic compounds (NOCs) in an attempt to define the operative sorptive mechanisms. Under the laboratory conditions, a series of modified loess soils in this study were prepared by replacing the cations of loess soil with both cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMA-Br) and anionic surfactant sodium dodethylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS). Toluene was selected as an indicator to study the sorption behavior of the NOCs in loess soils. The sorption isotherms of toluene in soil samples obtained using the batch equilibration method. The results indicated that natural loess had a poor sorption capability for NOCs, and sorption isotherms of toluene appeared likely nonlinear and fit the Freundlich equation very well. When the soils were coated with large alkyl surfactants such as HDTMA-Br, sorption isotherms correspondingly became linear and the sorptive capability was prominently dependent on the quantity of hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA) and SDBS added into the soils. The study could provide an essential basis on attenuation of organic contaminants in the subsurface environment. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.