Inhibition of mild steel in aqueous sodium chloride by sodium nitrite, disodium hydrogen phosphate and sodium molybdate with respect to the inhibitor concentration and temperature is reported here. Na2MoO4 shows highest efficiency (90.00%) followed by NaNO2 (87.56%) and Na2HPO4 (85.36%). As such, the order of inhibition observed is Na2MoO4>NaNO2>Na2HPO4. Thermodynamic as well as kinetic parameters including activation energy (E-a), change in free energy of adsorption (DeltaG), entropy of adsorption (DeltaS), corrosion current (I-corr), open circuit potential (OCP), Tafel slopes (betaa, betac) and threshold limiting value (TLV) for protective film formation have also been calculated from weight loss and potentiostatic polarisation methods.