In the present work, the phosphate sorption on hematite in the absence and in the presence of foreign ions is studied as function of pH by DRIFT analyses. The obtained results show that in single system, the phosphate interaction with hematite surface depend on pH. At very acidic pH, the formation of inner sphere monodentate complex is observed. As pH increases, the interaction seems to be mainly electrostatic. In the presence of sulfate, chromate and oxalate, phosphate is adsorbed as outer sphere complexes. The interaction of phosphate with hematite in the presence of zinc, cadmium and copper is characterized by the formation of inner sphere complexes at pH 6 for the three metals and only for zinc and cadmium at pH 4.