Controlled adsorption of PS nano particles onto specific regions of flat surfaces has found increasing interest as potential applications for surface-adsorbed PS particles, such as fabrication of quantum dots, optical switches, mesoscopic lasers, biosensors, as well as dosing of biomolecules, require an easily applicable adsorption scheme capable of addressing macroscopic areas. Among the various techniques those utilizing linker molecules to promote particle-particle as well as particle-surface interaction have only recently been applied as to date the role of the linker molecules in the various physical and chemical adsorption mechanisms is only poorly understood. We have studied the effect of several water-soluble linker molecules on the adsorption behavior and packing density of surfactant-free polystyrene latex spheres from suspension. By variation of several parameters, such as molarity of the linker molecules, pH of the suspension, as well as choosing differently functionalized PS particles we can distinguish several adsorption mechanisms from each other, reaching from purely physical ones to covalent bonding. This basic study is a first step to the fabrication of 2D crystalline monolayers of macroscopic lateral extension by means of chemically driven self-assembly.