Salivary mucins are known to play important roles in the formation of oral salivary films. The aims of the present study were to investigate the behaviour of salivary mucins at solid surfaces with different wettabilities, as well as the influence of electrolyte on the adsorption behaviour. A pure preparation of human salivary MUC5B was used together with a commercial one of bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM). Amounts adsorbed from freshly prepared solutions onto hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces versus time were measured in situ by ellipsometry. At low concentrations, larger amounts were adsorbed onto hydrophobic than onto hydrophilic silica indicating a higher affinity for the former surfaces. Furthermore, on hydrophilic surfaces adsorbed amounts of MUC5B and BSM show good agreement at low concentrations (<0.10 mg ml-1). However, at higher concentrations MUC5B adsorbed to a lower extent than BSM. At hydrophobic surfaces, isotherm shapes were similar for the two preparations, but the amounts were shifted to higher values for MUC5B. Finally, the presence of electrolyte increased adsorption and the increase was more pronounced on hydrophilic surfaces. The increased adsorption at a higher ionic strength indicates a more compact structure of the mucin due to electrostatic screening and the fact that the effect was more pronounced on the hydrophilic surfaces points to a higher relative importance of electrostatic interactions in this case. We conclude that the two mucins investigated behave in a qualitatively similar manner and show the highest affinity for hydrophobic surfaces.