One of the ways to detect environmental contamination is by analyzing biochemical responses, or biomarkers, in sentinel species tissues, such as marine mammals, as these animals act as bioindicators of ocean health and their respective trophic chains. Porpoises (Pontoporia blainvilei) and rough-toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis) present long-life expectancy and are at the top of the food chain and are, therefore, considered appropriate environmental contamination indicators. In this study, environmental contamination by metals and metalloids, both non essential and essential, was assessed by means of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), as well as their distribution in different subcellular fractions, obtained from differential extraction processes analysis, in P. blainvilei and S. bredanensis liver, kidney and muscle samples of individuals sampled from in the Lakes and Northern Fluminense regions, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In addition, the induction of both metallothionein (MT) and reduced glutathione (GSH) considered response proteins to this type of contamination, were also assessed by spectrophotometry in the UV-visible region. No significant difference between MT concentrations in the three analyzed tissues were noted for both species. This was also observed for GSH in P. blainvilei. However, a significant difference was observed between liver and muscle GSH in S. bredanensis, and, as expected, liver concentrations were higher as this is a metabolically active and main detoxification organ. In P. blainvilei, metals like as Al, As, Cd, Cr, Mn, Pb e Ti were present in high concentrations in the thermolabile and thermostable fractions of all evaluated tissues, indicating that a significant portion of these analytes is being detoxified by complexation with MT or other proteins and non-enzymatic compounds. Some metals, such as Ag, Cu, Fe, Hg, Ni, Se, Sn e Zn although detected, were present mostly in the insoluble fraction, indicating that the preferred detoxification pathways of these elements in this species are probably not performed through MT. In S. bredanensis, Al and Cr were also detected in the insoluble fraction. Regarding the total concentrations of these metals, high levels for most analytes were observed in S. bredanensis liver, kidney and muscle. Several statistically significant correlations between toxic and essential elements were observed in the liver and muscle of both species for all subcellular fractions, through a principal component analysis. In addition, some protective effects were postulated against toxic elements, evaluated from molar ratios calculations. Different profiles were observed for metalloproteins contained in the thermostable fraction of these individuals, using high efficiency chromatography coupled to ICP-MS (HPLC- ICP-MS), indicating metal and metalloid accumulation in the analyzed tissues, possible disturbance of elemental homeostasis and attempts to detoxify toxic metals by several metalloproteins.