This paper deals with the influencing factors on removal of chlorobenzene from unsaturated soils by soil vapor extraction (SVE) method. A series of one-dimensional column experiments were conducted to study the influencing factors for SVE method, the factors included extracted vapor flow rate, soil grain size, extraction mode, soil organic matter content and water content. The results indicated that: (1) the increase of vapor flow rate led to higher contaminant removal efficiency, but the increment of removal was not significant at higher flow rate levels; (2) soil grain sizes had a great impact on chlorobenzene removal efficiency, the coarser the sand, the higher the removal rate; (3) pulsed vapor extraction and continuous vapor extraction almost had the same contaminant removal effects in the sand column; (4) the higher organic content in the soil could decrease the removal efficiency; (5) water content in the soil had different impact on the contaminant removal efficiency which related with the organic content in the soil. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.