Carbon materials were obtained by the thermal decomposition of organic reagents, and different surface states are achieved by treatment in different conditions. SEM, XRD and BET were used to characterize the samples. Hydrogen storage of the samples was measured at liquid nitrogen temperature. Combining these results and others' work, a mechanism for hydrogen storage in carbon materials is proposed that hydrogen is stored at different sites with different mechanisms. With this hypothesis, the hydrogen storage properties of carbon materials can be forecasted quantitatively. (C) 2006 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.