The use of complex carbon-mineral adsorbents is expected to grow and investigations will develop on their applications, not only in adsorption or in chromatography. Their complex structure determines their unique surface properties and the possibility of using them in wide area applications. In this paper, preparation, structure and sorption properties of complex adsorbents, i.e. zirconia-silica gel (ZrO 2/SiO 2), carbon-silica gel (C/SiO 2), carbon-zirconia (C/ZrO 2) and carbon-zirconia-silica gel (CZrO 2/SiO 2) have been presented. Complex carbon-mineral adsorbents were obtained by carburization of the starting adsorbents with methylene chloride, n-octanol, methylnaphthalene or α-methyl benzyl alcohol in an autoclave. The obtained adsorbents have been characterized by low-temperature nitrogen adsorption, diffractogram measurements, differential thermal analysis and imaging of the adsorbent surfaces with a scanning electron microscope. Values of the adsorption head and the adsorption isotherm of n-hexane, benzene and chloroform as well as the energy distribution function of chloroform were calculated. From these data, results show that the most interesting materials are adsorbents of the type ZrO 2/SiO 2 and C/ZrO 2/SiO 2. Zirconium ions present on a silica surface cause an increase in the degree of conversion of organic substances to carbon, a more uniform distribution on the surface and a growth of thermal endurance.