* Centrifugation and cyclonic separation, separates based on density differences
* Chelation
* Chromatography separates dissolved substances by different interaction with (i.e., travel through) a material.
** High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
** Thin-layer chromatography (TLC)
** Countercurrent chromatography (CCC)
** Droplet countercurrent chromatography (DCC)
** Paper chromatography
** Ion chromatography
** Size-exclusion chromatography (SEC)
** Affinity chromatography
** Centrifugal partition chromatography
** Gas chromatography and Inverse gas chromatography
* Crystallization
* Decantation
* Demister (vapor), removes liquid droplets from gas streams
* Distillation, used for mixtures of liquids with different boiling points
* Drying, removes liquid from a solid by vaporization or evaporation
* Electrophoresis, separates organic molecules based on their different interaction with a gel under an electric potential (i.e., different travel)
** Capillary electrophoresis
* Electrostatic separation, works on the principle of corona discharge, where two plates are placed close together and high voltage is applied. This high voltage is used to separate the ionized particles.
* Elutriation
* Evaporation
* Extraction
** Leaching
** Liquid–liquid extraction
** Solid phase extraction
** Supercritical fluid extraction
** Subcritical fluid extraction
* Field flow fractionation
* Filtration – Mesh, bag and paper filters are used to remove large particulates suspended in fluids (e.g., fly ash) while membrane processes including microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, dialysis (biochemistry) utilising synthetic membranes, separates micrometre-sized or smaller species
* Flocculation, separates a solid from a liquid in a colloid, by use of a flocculant, which promotes the solid clumping into flocs
* Fractional distillation
* Fractional freezing
* Magnetic separation
* Oil-water separation, gravimetrically separates suspended oil droplets from waste water in oil refineries, petrochemical and chemical plants, natural gas processing plants and similar industries
* Precipitation
* Recrystallization
* Scrubbing, separation of particulates (solids) or gases from a gas stream using liquid.
* Sedimentation, separates using vocal density pressure differences
** Gravity separation
* Sieving
* Sponge, adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules of gas, liquid, or dissolved solids to a surface
* Stripping
* Sublimation
* Vapor–liquid separation, separates by gravity, based on the Souders–Brown equation
* Winnowing
* Zone refining