The extraction of shale oil produces relatively large volumes of polluted process water. These waters contain large concentrations of organic and inorganic pollutants as well as environmentally significant amounts of trace materials. These substances either individually or in combination can be highly toxic to environmental systems. This paper addresses a suggested cleanup sequence designed to remove specific pollutants and to detoxify these waters. Hot gas stripping, followed by activated carbon adsorption and reverse osmosis removed over 93 percent of the total organic carbon load while also reducing the toxicity of the resultant effluent as measured by a standard technique. Depending upon the ultimate use of these waters, the suggested treatment sequence or its individual components could be employed at a pilot or commercial scale retorting facility.