The sorption of cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA) onto the solid/liquid interfaces of different clinoptilolite rich tuffs (CT) is examined. Examined were CT from Serbia with 75% clinoptilolite, CT from Turkey with 70% clinoptilolite, and CT from Croatia with 60% clinoptilolite. The sorption of HDTMA cations increased in the following order: CT from Serbia > CT from Turkey > CT from Croatia. The maximum amounts of sorbed HDTMA cations, normalized with regard to external cation exchange capacities of tuffs, were 1.79, 1.70, and 1.14 for Serbian, Turkish, and Croatian CT. FTIR analysis of samples with the maximum amount of sorbed HDTMA cations showed that HDTMA chains on Serbian CT adopt mainly a stretched all-trans conformation, while at the surfaces of CT from Turkey and Croatia the amount of gauche conformations increased. The zeta potentials of CT samples with the maximum amount of sorbed HDTMA cations and the sorption of benzoate anions on these samples increased in the following order: CT from Turkey > CT from Serbia > CT from Croatia. It can be assumed that on the surface of CT from Turkey iron (hydr)oxide Clusters or nanoparticles with positive Surface sites are present, due to which the isoelectric point is sifted toward lower and the zeta potential toward higher values. Therefore, the sorption of benzoate anions on modified CT from Turkey is also higher. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.