The fluorescent probe tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) (RuII) has been used to investigate the nature of the surfaces of the following clays: laponite, which is a synthetic clay, and natural hectorite and montmorillonite. RuII is adsorbed completely by the clay by ion exchange and on excitation gives rise to a luminescence spectrum in the red part of the spectrum with a lifetime of about half a microsecond. The lifetime, quantum yield, and nature of the absorption spectrum are dependent on whether the RuII is adsorbed in layers as in the natural clays or whether it is adsorbed on the surface as with laponite. At low concentrations of laponite, RuII is adsorbed on outer layers and is in contact with the aqueous phase. However, at higher clay concentrations or in the presence of calcium chloride, layering of the clay occurs and the probe molecule is placed progressively between the layers where its photophysics is altered. The casting of a film from the laponite-RuII exhibits maximum spectral change as associated with maximum colloid layer formation. Such changes are not as readily observed with hectorite or montmorillonite, and this indicates that, for the most part, these systems exist as layered colloids and that RuII is already adsorbed between the layers. Other molecules such as Cu2+, dimethylaniline, and nitrobenzene react with excited RuII through electron-transfer reactions and are also adsorbed to varying extents on the clay surface. Cu2+ is adsorbed strongly and the kinetics are simplified due to the strong adsorption. Here, Stern-Volmer type kinetics are observed and a quenching rate constant is obtained which is lower than that in the aqueous solution, which gives an estimate of the degree of movement of cupric ions on the clay surface. Dimethylaniline and nitrobenzene are adsorbed weakly on the clay. However, the clay catalyzes the reaction of the RuII with these quenchers as both are adsorbed in a small volume, i.e., the clay surface. The kinetics that describe these latter reactions are of the Poisson form, and the kinetics indicate that the reactive quencher molecules are adsorbed around the RuII, in a zonelike effect, rather than being adsorbed randomly throughout the system. This tends to indicate that the sites of adsorption are not uniform on the clay surface but occur in regions.