Roles of clay fraction in controlling behavior of pollutants, the chosen pollutants being mostly inorganic substances, in real sediment and soil systems have been reviewed. Since the knowledge of the claypollutant interaction in the real environment presently rather limited, we have attempted to collect the information from the roles of wider range of sediment/ soil constituents, which are considered to be relevant to those of clays and clay minerals. Emphasis has been laid on showing the importance of surface processes, as well as of chemical form of pollutants or their binding modes to the soil and sediment constituents.