The desorption of phenol from active carbon was studied using cyclic and continuous flow desorbers. A wide difference in desorption capabilities was shown among ten solvents. The system employed was complex, with water being present in addition to phenol on the carbon. An attempt to correlate the desorption data with the physical properties of the phenol and solvent and regular solution theory is made. A thermodynamic approach using the linear free energy enthalpy relationship produced a reasonable correlation of the heat of formation of the phenol solvent hydrogen bond with the desorption data. This indicates that the desorption of the phenol from carbon in this complex system is dependent upon the ability of the solvent to form hydrogen bonds with the phenol.