The thermal desorption process of phenol, m-aminophenol, p-cresol and p-nitrophenol from an activated carbon has been studied. For this purpose, the activated carbon-phenolic compd. system was heated to 1100 K in a He flow following detn. of wt. loss and the evolution of light gases by a thermobalance and by mass spectrometry, resp. Results showed that during the heat treatment, part of the phenol evolved from the activated carbon and was deposited at the outlet of the reactor and part underwent degrdn. reactions to light gases and to a residue that remained on the surface of the activated carbon. Finally, the variation of the adsorption capacity of the activated carbon after several adsorption-regeneration cycles has also been studied.