Abstract Adsorption technique was one of the most promising methods to treat volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Recently, the applications of porous materials for VOCs adsorption had attracted extensive interests of researchers. This article focused on the VOCs adsorption performance and research progress of different porous materials like activated carbon, biochar, active carbon fiber, graphene, carbon nanotube, zeolite, metal organic frameworks, porous organic polymer and composite materials, and describe the problems existed in VOCs adsorption. The causes of deactivation and regeneration methods of adsorbents were summarized. The future development prospect of VOCs adsorption by porous materials was discussed and references were provided.
