The interaction of organic molecules with oxide surfaces is important in many areas of endeavor. At the University of Surrey we have been concerned with this phenomenon for more than two decades, and special emphasis has been applied in the arena of adhesion and adhesive bonding. Our work in this area has been concerned, predominantly, with adsorption from the liquid phase, and it will be shown that XPS and SIMS are ideally suited to the study of adsorption characteristics of such systems. This paper will review fundamental studies that have been undertaken with a view to providing guidelines that can be used in studies of organics on oxide surfaces in other spheres of interest. There are two basic parameters that must be addressed if we are to start to develop a model of the manner of interaction of an organic molecule with an oxide surface. The first is the capacity of the solid surface for the adsorbing molecule, the second is the nature of the bond that is formed between adsorbate and substrate. If the concern is of the behavior of very small amounts of adsorbing species, (up to a few monolayers, for example), there is also the concern regarding the conformation of the molecules and the degree of order in the adsorbed layer. In more complex situations the interest will be in the phenomenon of competitive adsorption where the adsorbing solution contains not one, but many potential adsorbates. Adsorption characteristics of substrates are readily deduced by the construction of adsorption isotherms based on XPS or ToF-SIMS data. In essence, once kinetic equilibrium has been found for a particular system, a series of measurements are made on the adsorption of organic molecules, from solution of various concentrations. The uptake curve, in the case of chemisorption, takes the form of a classical adsorption isotherm, and may be treated by procedures that reflect adsorption in accord with Langmuir, Temkin or other model as appropriate.