Both biodegradable and nondegradable plastics are widely used. However, their interactions with petroleum hydrocarbons (PHs) have not been sufficiently studied. In this study, a type of biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) and five types of nondegradable microplastics polyamide (PA), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were selected to investigate the sorption and desorption mechanisms of PHs. The sorption kinetics of the six types of microplastics followed a pseudo-second-order kinetics model (R2 ranged from 0.956 to 0.999) and indicated that chemical sorption dominated the sorption process. The key rate-controlling steps of the sorption of PHs on microplastics were intraparticle diffusion and liquid film diffusion. The sorption capacity of PHs on microplastics followed the order of PA > PE > PS > PET > PLA > PVC. The difference in sorption capacity might be due to the crystallinity, and rubber or glass state of the microplastics. In addition, all types of microplastics exhibited reversible sorption without noticeable desorption hysteresis. No obvious differences were observed in the sorption and desorption of PHs between biodegradable and nondegradable microplastics. Both biodegradable and nondegradable microplastics could sorb/desorb PHs and serve as transportation vectors. •Kinetics and isotherms were elucidated.•The sorption conformed to pseudo-second-order model.•Sorption capacity followed the order PA > PE > PS > PET > PLA > PVC.•The desorption was reversible, without hysteresis.•PLA displayed similar sorption and desorption mechanisms as PA, PE, PET, PVC, and PS.