The use of packed-bed solid sorbent tubes was investigated for the collection and concentration of lead and lead compound aerosols utilizing a lead metal laboratory test atmosphere and lead containing automobile exhaust. Four different sorbents were tested: alumina (100–150 mesh), silica gel (80–200 mesh), Chromosorb 102 (60–80 mesh), and Tenax-GC (80–100 mesh). The following average collection efficiencies were observed for the first portion of each sorbent in the tube (200 mg of sorbent) when sampling automobile exhaust: 95.8 ± 5.7 % for alumina, 98.5 ± 3.2 % for silica gel, 98.0 ± 3.7 % for Chromosorb 102, and 99.2 ± 2.6 % for Tenax-GC. Using the lead metal test aerosol, the average efficiencies were 99.2 ± 1.0, 99.2 ± 1.1, 99.9 ± 0.1, and 100.0 ± 0.0 % for the alumina, silica gel, Chromosorb 102, and Tenax-GC, respectively. Consideration of percent collection efficiency, blank values, and elution efficiency of lead from the sorbent indicated that Tenax-GC provided the best results.