•Adult literacy education generally has a negative effect on religious trust.•Formal education does not exercise strong, consistent effects on religious attitudes.•Ethnicity appears to mediate the effects of education on religious trust.•Koranic schooling does not always raise individuals’ commitment to religious authorities. Although the relationship between religious attachment and education has received much attention, few studies have examined it in the African context. Using data from a survey of 1,484 rural Senegalese citizens and Afrobarometer survey data, this article examines the relationship between different types of education (adult literacy education, Koranic education and formal education), ethnicity, and trust in religious leaders and institutions in the West African and overwhelmingly Muslim setting of Senegal. The results indicate that adult literacy education (ALE) generally has a negative effect on religious trust while the effects of formal education and Koranic education appear more variable. Ethnicity is also strongly linked to religious trust and appears to mediate the effects of education on religious trust.