The degradation of 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) was investigated by a combination of TiO 2 -based photocatalysis and adsorption. Three combined systems were compared: (i) TiO 2 was intercalated into the interlamellar space of a hydrophilic montmorillonite by means of a heterocoagulation process (TiO 2 pillared montmorillonite, TPM); (ii) TiO 2 was hydrothermally crystallized on hexadecylpyridinium chloride-treated montmorillonite (HDPM-T); (iii) hexadecylpyridinium chloride-treated montmorillonite (HDPM) was used as adsorbent and Degussa P25 TiO 2 as photocatalyst (HDPM/TiO 2 ).The process of mineralization of the organic substrate was characterized by measuring the total organic carbon (TOC) and total inorganic chloride contents, while the degradation of 2-CP and the formation of intermediates were followed by HPLC. The adsorbent-photocatalyst systems were characterized by X-ray diffraction measurements. In all the investigated systems, the degradation of 2-CP was accompanied by a continuous decrease in TOC content. The most advantageous situation was found with HDPM/TiO 2 , for which the highest rate of oxidation of 2-CP was observed. In this case the photocatalytically recovered adsorbent may be re-used without further regeneration. A significantly lower 2-CP degradation rate was observed when TiO 2 was fixed on layer silicates. When TPM was applied, only a rather low decrease in TOC content was observed during 10h of irradiation, i.e. only slight mineralization of the organic pollutant occurred, which is probably due to the low crystallinity and small size of the TiO 2 particles. In the case of HDPM-T, the observed quite high reduction in TOC content shows that the hydrothermally processed TiO 2 sample may compete with the Degussa P25, but the degradation of the organic pollutant is accompanied by a continuous destruction of the adsorbent.