The preparation and characterization of amino acid pillared materials are reported in this contribution. Host substances were Na-montmorillonite for cationic and hydrotalcite for anionic pillaring. Guest molecules were L-phenylalanine and L-tyrosine. The pillared materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, BET measurements and FT–IR spectroscopy. Pillaring was successful: the layers propped open and the basal distances increased significantly. For hydrotalcite this increase was always significantly larger than for montmorillonite. This fact indicated that the spatial arrangement of the amino acid moieties is widely different. A model for this arrangement is given.