Abstract: This article describes different types of sorbents for the solid- phase extraction of polar organic pollutants from environmental water and emphasizes the use of the new synthesized sorbents, The most important new sorbents are the chemically modified polymeric resins with functional groups such as acetyl, hydroxymethyl, benzoyl and o- carboxybenzoyl, and the highly crosslinked polymers. These sorbents are compared and their properties described. Recoveries for the most polar compounds are better when these new sorbents are used. Immunosorbents and molecularly imprinted polymers are new types of extraction sorbents which are specific for a group of compounds and they enable chromatograms with no matrix interference to be obtained when analyzing some polar compounds. The advantages and drawbacks of off-line and on-line procedures are also discussed, and solutions to their limitations are proposed. (C)1998 Elsevier Science B.V