The scope of this study was to measure the concentration of metals and organic and inorganic anions in aqueous and acid extracts of PM10 samples collected in urban, industrial and rural zones of Rio de Janeiro. PM10 concentration was determined by gravimetric analysis and the organic and inorganic species in the aqueous extracts were determined by ion chromatography and total organic carbon (TOC). The aqueous and acid extracts were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and by ICP OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry), in order to determine metal content. Correlations between PM10 and metal concentrations were evaluated, considering meteorological data for each site. Results showed that the average PM10 concentrations were 36 microgram m-3; 50 microgram m-3 and 74 microgram m-3 at the rural, downtown and industrial sites, respectively. The measured PM10 concentration in the industrial site exceeded the limit allowed by the Brazilian law, which is 50 microgram m-3. While industrial area had the highest concentrations of metals, such as Fe, Zn, Al, Ti, Mn, Cr, Ni, Cd and Pb, the highest concentrations of Cu and V were found in areas with higher traffic densities. Ionic species had higher concentrations in the urban site due to the proximity to the ocean. The lowest concentrations of species from anthropogenic sources, such as sulfate, nitrate and some metals (Pb, Cr, V and Ni) were measured in the rural area. Hence, studied species concentrations are influenced by site locations, but the influence by the transportation of long distance pollutants, such as biomass burning and dust from African deserts was also observed. The acid/aqueous percentiles showed that the most efficiently extracted metals in the aqueous phase were V and Ni (greater than 45 percent) while the less efficiently extracted were Al and Fe (less than 3 percent), as expected. The aqueous fraction is important to evaluate the bioavailability of metals that are associated to damage to the human health.