Release of carbon materials (CMs) into water and wastewater treatment systems occurs due to their increasing utilization as adsorbents for water treatment. When the CMs, mixed with natural organic matter (NOM), interact with disinfectants used during water treatment (e.g. chlorine), the released CMs can affect the formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs). In this study, three common CMs were investigated to reveal their possible effects and the mechanisms of DBP formation during the chlorination of NOM. The experimental results indicate that DBPs generation decreased by 10–40% in the presence of CMs when Suwannee River humic acid (SRHA) was chlorinated. The adsorption of SRHA by CMs was hypothesized as the major cause for the DBPs inhibition. CMs could irreversibly adsorb DBP precursors in their mesopores through π-π bonding and hydrophobic effects. OH groups on the surface of CMs were shown to be critical for DBPs inhibition through linking with the OH or COOH groups on the surface of NOM via hydrogen bonding. The study also showed that water chemistry parameters, such as pH and salinity, can affect DBP formation by changing the adsorption of NOM onto CMs. With diverse NOM components, the presence of CMs resulted in decreased formation of trichloromethane from 57.1 μg/L to 23.8, 38.4, and 40.4 μg/L when coal-made activated carbon (CAC), wheat straw-made BC pyrolyzed at 300 °C (WSBC300), and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), respectively, were added to surface water; and from 30.6 μg/L to 20.0, 19.2, and 13.2 μg/L when CAC, WSBC300, and MWCNTs, respectively, were added to wastewater.