The aim of this work is to assess the capability of a series of nanoporous materials to capture gaseous formaldehyde by adsorption in order to develop air treatment process and gas detection in workspaces or housings. Adsorption-desorption isotherms have been accurately measured at room temperature by TGA under very low pressure (p <2 hPa) on various adsorbents, such as zeolites, mesoporous silica (SBA15), activated carbon (AC NORIT RB3) and metal organic framework (MOP, Ga-MIL-53), exhibiting a wide range of pore sizes and surface properties. Results reveal that the NaX, NaY and CuX faujasite (FAU) zeolites are materials which show strong adsorption capacity and high affinity toward formaldehyde. In addition, these materials can be completely regenerated by heating at 200 degrees C under vacuum. These cationic zeolites are therefore promising candidates as adsorbents for the design of air depollution process or gas sensing applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.