Distribution coefficients for polystyrene obtained from size-exclusion liquid chromatography experiments on a silica-based packing in benzene-methanol binary eluent, have served to test the validity of those theoretically predicted. For this purpose, we use the Flory--Huggins lattice theory for the thermodynamic description of the polystyrene behaviour in mixed solvents as eluent, including the preferential solvation effect. Moreover, an structural description of the stationary phase is performed through a binary-layered-phase model for methanol adsorption on the pore wall, involving a self--association process. Diverse alternative ways to evaluate the distribution coefficients are detailed in-depth and the results discussed.Multicomponent eluents are often used in Liquid Chromatography (LC) under isocratic conditions in both organic and aqueous environments (7,2). The inherent advantage of using these eluents is to change gradually some properties such as eluent strength, viscosity, solubility respect to the solute, to decrease the boiling point for volatile single eluents, polarity, etc. In the case of size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) of polymers, two applications of the multicomponent eluents deserve to be mentioned. The first one refers to a new mode of SEC, called Critical SEC often used to separate polymers of the same molar mass but different functionality, end-groups or topology (linear, branched, comb) (5-5). These critical conditions are created with specific multicomponent eluents often formed by a nonsolvent/solvent mixture at a given composition and temperature. However, the exact mechanism of the polymer retention under critical conditions is not clear yet. The second advantage of using this kind of eluents concerns the possibility to perform transient stationary phases by chemisorption of one or more components of the eluent on the active centres of the gel packing. Focusing our attention in a binary eluent formed by a solvent/non-solvent for the polymer, the stationary phase can be enriched or depleted in one of the components respect to the original composition of the mobile phase. This feature has been investigated in-depth many years ago from a 0097-6156/96/0635-0103$16.00A)