Soil organic matters (SOM) are the crucial constituents of soil. The sorption of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) on SOM has great impact on the migration and transformation of HOCs in environment. Recent studies indicated that the sorption of HOCs on SOM was not fitted strictly with the linear partition model. This paper reviewed some proposed mechanisms on nonlinear sorption and the influence factors that affected the HOCs sorption by SOM. It is concluded that both the constituents and structure of SOM have strong influence on HOCs sorption. The adsorption of SOM on minerals changed the structure or the proportion of components in SOM, which affected the sorption. The change of the solution environment could affect the adsorption mainly through the cation effect on the structure and configuration of SOM. Specially, co-adsorption of some transition metals (e.g., Cu2+ or Ag+) might increase the sorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on SOM by forming cation-π interactions between cations and aromatic rings.