Abstract An experimental attempt was made to characterize the fracture behaviour of epoxies modified by halloysite nanotubes and to investigate toughening mechanisms with nanoparticles other than carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and montmorillonite particles (MMTs). Halloysite–epoxy nanocomposites were prepared by mixing epoxy resin with halloysite particles (5 wt% and 10 wt%, respectively). It was found that halloysite nanoparticles, mainly nanotubes, are effective additives in increasing the fracture toughness of epoxy resins without sacrificing other properties such as strength, modulus and glass transition temperature. Indeed, there were also noticeable enhancements in strength and modulus for halloysite–epoxy nanocomposites because of the reinforcing effect of the halloysite nanotubes due to their large aspect ratios. Fracture toughness of the halloysite particle modified epoxies was markedly increased with the greatest improvement up to 50% in KIC and 127% in GIC. Increases in fracture toughness are mainly due to mechanisms such as crack bridging, crack deflection and plastic deformation of the epoxy around the halloysite particle clusters. Halloysite particle clusters can interact with cracks at the crack front, resisting the advance of the crack and resulting in an increase in fracture toughness.