Effects of organic compounds, surfactants, and salinity on the rates of volatilization of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, p‐xylene, and m‐xylene (BTEX) mixtures were investigated by measuring the half‐life of volatilization under temperatures of 15°C, 30°C, and 45°C. With the assumption that the volatilization process might be viewed as a first order reaction, both the dependence of the concentration of additional chemicals on half‐life and the relative magnitude of reduction effects of different additional chemicals were examined with the activation energy value, Ea. It was found that the inhibition effects would increase as the molecular weight of organic compounds increased. The hydrophobic surfactant induces a larger Eathan the hydrophilic surfactant and high concentration salinity (3.5% NaCl) only increases Easlightly. It was concluded that cosolvents with more hydrophobic groups have a larger inhibition for the emission rates because of the enhancement of solubility of BTEX in water.