Underground contamination with hazardous wastes has been one of the largest environmental problems in several countries, with many sites presenting groundwater contamination. There are several technologies to control and remediate groundwater contamination and the technology more commonly used is the so called pump-and-treat. In spite of the potential for its use in the control of the migration of a plume, pump-and-treat possesses several physical and chemical restrictions that limit its effectiveness as a strategy of aquifer decontamination on long duration remediation works, especially if used isolated or when the aquifer is contaminated with NAPLs (Non Aqueous Phase Liquids). Additional and associated techniques to the control system of the plume migration are often recommended according the slow process of natural dissolution of these liquids in groundwater. Because these limitations, several technologies are being investigated. One of the most promising is the in situ treatment of the contaminant in reactive barriers, especially in aquifers contaminated with chlorinated aliphatic organic compounds (chlorinated solvents). The design involves the construction of a barrier with reactive and porous materials (reactors) that are placed in the aquifer to intercept the contaminant plume. As water passively flows through the reactor, the contaminants are degraded, therefore minimising or avoiding the aquifer contamination downstream the barrier. The degradation process involves the reductive dechlorination of the compounds in the presence of zero-valent metals (e.g. metallic iron). The general objective of this research is to make an evaluation of the use of reactive barriers in the emediation of aquifers that are contaminated with chlorinated solvents, and is emphasised its applicability and limitations. The specific objective of the research is to show that the treatment of aquifers should be made of sequential way, that is, it should involve different technologies of remediation according to the characteristics of the contaminants and their by-products. Several permeability and mass transport experiments were made for determination of the hydraulic conductivity and the parameters of mass transport in different mixtures of powder of iron and quartz. Batch and column tests were also made with different contaminants in the presence of iron powder and the results allow evaluating the degradation rates of these compounds and their by-products. The conclusion is that the reductive dechlorination with metallic iron can have different results depending on the type of contaminant. Some contaminants can not present any degradation or they have so high half-life times that the use of this technology in reactive barrier design is out of practice. Finally the formation of chlorinated by-products, which are more toxic than the own original contaminant and not degraded by the same technology, emphasises that the treatment of aquifers should be sequential.