Аннотация:An overview of liquid chromatography (LC) is presented. The various retention mechanisms of analetys with focus on interactions of solutes with stationary and mobile phases are considered. The classification of LC techniques based on physical state of stationary phase, interactions of solutes with stationary type, elution mode and hyphenation with detectors is presented. The basic definitions of liquid chromatography and the parameters connected with the retention and separation of analytes are discussed. These parameters are related to the structure of analytes and the chromatographic conditions used. Their adjustment is crucial for obtaining good or optimum separation.