The adsorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) onto activated carbons, non-functionalized polymeric adsorbents, and anion exchange resins was evaluated in batch as well as column experiments. It was found that the total PFOS capacity, adsorption kinetics, breakthrough times, and minimum effluent concentrations were highly dependent on the material properties, such as the inner surface area, pore size, functionalization, and hydrophobic character of the material, and on process parameters like temperature and ionic strength of the solution. The experiments furthermore revealed that surface tension measurements are a suitable method for online determination of PFOS concentrations above a defined value.