The preferential solvation parameters of phenobarbital in aqueous binary mixtures of 1,4-dioxane, t-butanol, n-propanol, ethanol, propylene glycol and glycerol were derived from solution thermodynamic properties by using the IKBI method. This drug is sensitive to preferential solvation effects in all these mixtures. The preferential solvation parameter by the cosolvent (x(1,3)) is negative in almost all the water-rich mixtures but positive in mixtures with similar proportions of solvents and cosolvent-rich mixtures, except in 1-propanol + water mixtures, where negative values are also found in mixtures with x(1)0.70. Hydrophobic hydration around the non-polar ethyl and phenyl groups of this drug in water-rich mixtures could play a relevant role in drug solvation. Otherwise, in mixtures of similar solvent compositions and in cosolvent-rich mixtures the preferential solvation by cosolvent could be due to the acidic behaviour of the drug.