The detailed characterization of the organic composition of industrial effluents discharged from various industrial branches and the distribution of the emitted pollutants in the surface waters in North Rhine-Westphalia have been done with the use of non-target screening analyses. Based on the characterization of molecular structures of wastewater constituents, their quantification as well as the available information on their origin and industrial applications, the identification of typical organic representatives for petrochemical and food effluents has been performed. Among a wide range of hydrocarbons detected in the petrochemical effluents, several novel organic wastewater constituents have been found for the first time. In the effluents from paper production plant, potential industrial indicators were distinguished, such as resin acids (abietic and dehydroabietic acids) and photoinitiators (Irgacure 184). The monitoring of the behaviour of certain environmentally relevant and newly described pollu-