The corrosion behavior of some Egyptian austenitic stainless steels SS 304L (I), SS 304H (II), SS 316H (III) and SS 304H (IV) was examined in 2.5 M NaCl solution. The study was performed using potentiodynamic polarization technique and complemented with XRD and SEM measurements. The electrochemical parameters E-corr,j(corr) and E-pit were used to compare the corrosion resistances of the tested samples. The corrosion resistances of these samples in NaCl decrease in the order: alloy IV > alloy III > alloy II > alloy I. An increase in either NaCl concentration or solution temperature shifts Epit of all samples towards more negative (active) direction. indicating a decrease in their corrosion resistance. The increase in Mo or Cr content in the alloys of the stainless steels improves their corrosion resistance. The apparent activation energies, E-a(0), of the general corrosion of the samples in 2.5 M NaCl solution were calculated. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.