Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the inhibition efficiency of benzonitriles with functional amine groups in different positions, for mild steel corrosion in 0.5 M HCl solution. For this purpose, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic measurements were realized. Besides, these electrochemical analyses were carried out at different temperatures in order to obtain temperature dependency of inhibition efficiency. By using atomic absorption spectroscopy techniques, the amount of iron ions that released to the solution was determined, during immersion time. The surface analysis was also carried out by scanning electron microscopy technique. The results show that all these inhibitors have a good inhibition effect on mild steel in 0.5 M HCl solution, and it depends on the position of amine group.