The surface acidity of a series of commercial Süd Chemie acid-treated montmorillonite clays (K-catalysts) has been evaluated by a wide range of complementary experimental techniques. The different methods applied allow a rather complete characterisation of the surface acidity providing a complete picture of the Lewis/Brønsted acid strength/density of the surface sites. IR data show that the Brønsted sites on these catalysts are relatively weak and provide evidence for a slight increase of the strength and the density of Brønsted sites in the order K5