The investigation of adsorption and desorption properties of shale are important for estimating reserves and exploitation. The shale samples used in this paper were from the marine shale on Longmaxi shale in Sichuan and Hubei province, China. A series of analyses, such as organic carbon content test, vitrinite reflectance test, rock pyrolysis, X-ray diffraction, and N 2 /CO 2 adsorption were performed. Gravimetric method with magnetic suspension balance was used to conduct isothermal adsorption and desorption experiments. The Langmuir, Freundlich, Langmuir-Freundlich, D-R, semi-pore, and Tothequations were used to fit the isothermal adsorption and desorption curves. And adsorption potential theory was used to explain the adsorption and desorption process. According to the results, the shale samples have a high level of organic carbon content with the same organic matter type II1 and high degree of maturation. The volume of adsorption increases rapidly and slows down to stable with the pressure increasing. Desorption is the inverse process of adsorption and 10 MPa -0.5 MPa is the main period of shale gas desorption. The fitting results show that three-parameter isotherm equations are better than the two-parameter ones. The adsorption temperature has a great influence on adsorption volume, little effect on potential energy. Adsorption potential varies under different TOC to affect adsorption properties. Moreover, a large adsorption potential means that the gas molecule is easy to adsorb but difficult to desorb.