Within the context of a multidisciplinary study aiming at the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction in the last 28,000 yr of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (west Mediterranean area), geochemical and mineralogical investigations were performed on sea sediments of a 6.17 m long core, collected in the Gulf of Salerno, southern Italy (14°42′24″ E; 40°28′92″ N), at 292 m bsl. The mineralogy of the sedimentary sequence was controlled by climatic changes, fluvial discharge processes and hydrodynamic conditions that occurred in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea during the last glacial–post-glacial transition. Notable was the occurrence of detrital mineral phases (quartz, calcite, dolomite, clay minerals, volcanic glass, pumice, sanidine, clinopyroxene, biotite and leucite,) in response to terrigenous input through intensive periods of precipitation/runoff and Sele river discharge. Changes in the clay mineral assemblage during the Holocene (from 9500 to 6000 yr BP) indicate increasing precipitation in the source area. Pyrite and barite crystallization, related to biogeochemical cycles, were found to affect chemical conditions of the sedimentary environment. Irregular crystals of analcime were produced by alteration of the AD 79 Vesuvius eruption pumice. The distribution of major and trace elements between stratigraphic layers was influenced by mineralogy. Concentrations of redox sensitive elements (Fe, Mn, Zn, Ni, Cu) largely depended on organic matter and sulphur, whereas for most of the others a key role was played by clay minerals. Enhanced Ba content was found at the 320 and 160 cm levels. Increased Pb content was observed at the surface. BCR sequential extraction showed that Cu and Pb in the sediments were prevalently associated with oxidizable components, primarily sulphides. Zn, Ni and Mn were strongly bound to residual mineral phases, likely of volcanic origin. Fe was found mainly associated with easily reducible oxide phases, and as pyrite.